Physical downlink control channel transmission method, base station device, and user equipment

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a physical downlink control channel sending method. The method includes: sending configuration information of a first physical downlink control channel on a predefined resource, where the configuration information of the first physical downlink control channel is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel; and sending the first physical downlink control channel according to the configuration information of the first physical downlink control channel. Correspondingly, the embodiments of the present disclosure further disclose a physical downlink control channel receiving method, a base station device, and user equipment. By using the present disclosure, a physical downlink control channel, especially, an EPDCCH channel, can be transmitted, to resolve a problem of physical downlink control channel transmission caused by the fact that narrowband user equipment cannot receive a broadband PDCCH channel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/588,209, filed on May 5, 2017, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2014/090621, filed on Nov. 7, 2014,All of the afore-mentioned patent applications are hereby incorporatedby reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to the field of wireless communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a physical downlink control channeltransmission method, a base station device, and user equipment.

BACKGROUND

The Internet of things (The Internet of Things) refers to: Obtaininformation about a physical world by deploying various devices havingperception, calculation, execution, and communication capabilities, andimplement information transmission, orchestration, and processing byusing a network, to further implement a network interconnecting peopleand things and interconnecting things. With continuous development ofthe Internet of things technologies, research on how to bear anapplication of the Internet of things by using a mobile communicationsnetwork has been started currently. In this research, to reduce devicecosts and satisfy a requirement for low consumption, an operatingbandwidth of a device needs to be reduced. For example, bandwidths of aradio frequency and a baseband of the device are reduced to 1.4 MHz.User equipment whose operating bandwidth is reduced is referred to asnarrowband user equipment.

According to an existing protocol, a base station in a communicationssystem transmit scheduling information to user equipment by using aPDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) or an EPDCCH (EnhancedPhysical Downlink Control Channel). The scheduling information is usedto indicate a transmission manner of to-be-transmitted data, forexample, a used time frequency resource, or a used modulation and codingscheme. In the EPDCCH channel, a CSS (Common Search Space) used toschedule a common message is not defined, and only a USS (UE specificSearch Space) used to schedule user specific data is defined. Inaddition, configuration information of the USS that is defined in theEPDCCH and that is used to schedule user specific data is transmitted byusing RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling scheduled by using a PDCCH.

However, if a system bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth ofnarrowband user equipment, the narrowband user equipment cannot receivea PDCCH channel of a system because the PDCCH channel may be mapped anddistributed through a range of the entire system bandwidth. Furthermore,the narrowband user equipment cannot receive the configurationinformation of the USS in the EPDCCH by receiving the RRC signalingaccording to the existing protocol, and cannot configure the USS in theEPDCCH. Consequently, no physical downlink control channel is availablefor the narrowband user equipment, and data cannot be scheduled ortransmitted.

Therefore, for a scenario in which a system bandwidth is greater than anoperating bandwidth of narrowband user equipment, how to transmit aphysical downlink control channel is a problem urgently to be resolved.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a physical downlinkcontrol channel transmission method, a base station device, and userequipment, to transmit a physical downlink control channel, especially,an EPDCCH channel, so as to resolve a problem of physical downlinkcontrol channel transmission caused by the fact that narrowband userequipment cannot receive a broadband PDCCH channel.

A first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides aphysical downlink control channel sending method, including:

sending configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource, where the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel;and

sending the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, thesending configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource includes:

sending a random access response message on the predefined resource,where the random access response message carries the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the sendingconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channelon a predefined resource includes:

sending scheduling information of a random access response message onthe predefined resource, where the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message is used to indicate manners of sending andreceiving the random access response message; and

sending the random access response message according to the schedulinginformation of the random access response message, where the randomaccess response message carries the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

With reference to the first aspect or the second possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner,the sending scheduling information of a random access response messageon the predefined resource includes:

determining a common search space on the predefined resource; and

sending, in the common search space, a second physical downlink controlchannel used to schedule the random access response message, where thesecond physical downlink control channel carries the schedulinginformation of the random access response message.

With reference to the first aspect or the first, or the second, or thethird possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourthpossible implementation manner, the sending a random access responsemessage, where the random access response message carries theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelincludes:

sending the random access response message, and adding indicationinformation to the random access response message, where the indicationinformation includes scheduling information of a random accesscontention resolution message, and the scheduling information of therandom access contention resolution message is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the random access contention resolutionmessage; and

sending the random access contention resolution message, where therandom access contention resolution message carries the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel; or

sending the random access response message, and adding indicationinformation to the random access response message, where the indicationinformation includes configuration information of a third physicaldownlink control channel, the configuration information of the thirdphysical downlink control channel is used to indicate manners of sendingand receiving the third physical downlink control channel, the thirdphysical downlink control channel is used to transmit schedulinginformation of a random access contention resolution message, thescheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the randomaccess contention resolution message, and the configuration informationof the third physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in a physical downlink control resource of thethird physical downlink control channel; and

sending the random access contention resolution message, where therandom access contention resolution message carries the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

With reference to the first aspect or the fourth possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner,the adding indication information to the random access response messageincludes:

adding a new field to the random access response message, where the newfield includes the indication information; or

re-explaining an existing field in the random access response message,and writing the indication information into the existing field that isre-explained.

With reference to the first aspect or the first or the second possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner, that the random access response message carriesthe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel includes:

adding a new field to the random access response message, where the newfield includes the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel; or

re-explaining an existing field in the random access response message,and writing the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel into the existing field that is re-explained.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner,the first physical downlink control channel is a physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule a random access contention resolutionmessage.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the sendingconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channelon a predefined resource includes:

sending, on the predefined resource, a data channel carrying theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel, where the data channel is sent in an unscheduled manner.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner, in a ninthpossible implementation manner, the sending configuration information ofa first physical downlink control channel on a predefined resourceincludes:

sending a fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource, and adding the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel to the fourth physical downlink controlchannel; or

sending a fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource; and

sending, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner, the predefinedresource is a part or all of a physical downlink control channelresource, the physical downlink control channel resource is a set of aresource to which a physical downlink control channel is mapped, and aquantity of the physical downlink control channel resources is one ormore.

With reference to any one of the first aspect or the first to the tenthpossible implementation manners of the first aspect, in an eleventhpossible implementation manner, the predefined resource is determined byusing a preset rule; and/or

notified by using a higher layer; or

one or more resources are configured by using a higher layer, and thepredefined resource is determined from the one or more resources byusing a predefined rule.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, the preset ruleincludes:

the predefined resource is determined according to a quantity ofphysical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and the predefinedresource includes one or more physical resource blocks.

With reference to any one of the first aspect or the first to thetwelfth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in athirteenth possible implementation manner, the predefined resourceincludes a predefined time frequency resource.

With reference to any one of the first aspect or the first to thethirteenth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in afourteenth possible implementation manner, the predefined resource is apart of a predefined narrowband resource, and the first physicaldownlink control channel is a part of the predefined resource on thepredefined narrowband resource, or is a part of the predefined resourceon another narrowband resource that is not predefined.

With reference to any one of the first aspect or the first to thefourteenth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in afifteenth possible implementation manner, the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in the first physical downlink control channel.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides aphysical downlink control channel receiving method, including:

receiving configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource, where the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel;and

receiving the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

In a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, thereceiving configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource includes:

receiving a random access response message on the predefined resource,and obtaining the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel carried in the random access response message.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the sendingconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channelon a predefined resource includes:

receiving scheduling information of a random access response message onthe predefined resource, where the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message is used to indicate manners of sending andreceiving the random access response message; and

receiving the random access response message according to the schedulinginformation of the random access response message, and obtaining theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelcarried in the random access response message.

With reference to the second aspect or the second possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possibleimplementation manner, the receiving scheduling information of a randomaccess response message on the predefined resource includes:

determining a common search space on the predefined resource; and

receiving, in the common search space, a second physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message, andobtaining the scheduling information that is of the random accessresponse message and that is carried in the second physical downlinkcontrol channel.

With reference to the second aspect or the first, or the second, or thethird possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourthpossible implementation manner, the obtaining the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel carried inthe random access response message includes:

receiving the random access response message, and obtaining indicationinformation carried in the random access response message, where theindication information includes scheduling information of a randomaccess contention resolution message, and the scheduling information ofthe random access contention resolution message is used to indicatemanners of sending and receiving the random access contention resolutionmessage; and

receiving the random access contention resolution message according tothe scheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage, and obtaining the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel carried in the random accesscontention resolution message; or

receiving the random access response message, and obtaining indicationinformation carried in the random access response message, where theindication information includes configuration information of a thirdphysical downlink control channel, the configuration information of thethird physical downlink control channel is used to indicate manners ofsending and receiving the third physical downlink control channel, thethird physical downlink control channel is used to transmit schedulinginformation of a random access contention resolution message, thescheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the randomaccess contention resolution message, and the configuration informationof the third physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in a physical downlink control resource of thethird physical downlink control channel; and

receiving the random access contention resolution message according tothe scheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage, and obtaining the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel carried in the random accesscontention resolution message.

With reference to the second aspect or the fourth possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possibleimplementation manner, the indication information is added by a basestation device to the random access response message in the followingmanner:

adding a new field to the random access response message, where the newfield includes the indication information; or

re-explaining an existing field in the random access response message,and writing the indication information into the existing field that isre-explained.

With reference to the second aspect or the first or the second possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner, that the random access response message carriesthe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel includes:

adding a new field to the random access response message, where the newfield includes the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel; or

re-explaining an existing field in the random access response message,and writing the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel into the existing field that is re-explained.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, in a seventh possible implementationmanner, the first physical downlink control channel is a physicaldownlink control channel used to schedule a random access contentionresolution message.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the sendingconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channelon a predefined resource includes:

receiving, on the predefined resource, a data channel carrying theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel, and obtaining the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel, where the data channel is sent in anunscheduled manner.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the sendingconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channelon a predefined resource includes:

receiving a fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource, and obtaining the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel carried in the fourth physicaldownlink control channel; or

receiving a fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource; and

receiving, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and obtaining the first physical downlinkcontrol channel.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner, the predefinedresource is a part or all of a physical downlink control channelresource, the physical downlink control channel resource is a set of aresource to which a physical downlink control channel is mapped, and aquantity of the physical downlink control channel resources is one ormore.

With reference to any one of the second aspect or the first to the tenthpossible implementation manners of the second aspect, in an eleventhpossible implementation manner, the predefined resource is determined byusing a preset rule; and/or

notified by using a higher layer; or

one or more resources are configured by using a higher layer, and thepredefined resource is determined from the one or more resources byusing a predefined rule.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, the preset ruleincludes:

the predefined resource is determined according to a quantity ofphysical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and the predefinedresource includes one or more physical resource blocks.

With reference to any one of the second aspect or the first to thetwelfth possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in athirteenth possible implementation manner, the predefined resourceincludes a predefined time frequency resource.

With reference to any one of the second aspect or the first to thethirteenth possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in afourteenth possible implementation manner, the predefined resource is apart of a predefined narrowband resource, and the first physicaldownlink control channel is a part of the predefined resource on thepredefined narrowband resource, or is a part of the predefined resourceon another narrowband resource that is not predefined.

With reference to any one of the second aspect or the first to thefourteenth possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in afifteenth possible implementation manner, the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in the first physical downlink control channel.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides abase station device, including:

-   -   a configuration information sending module, configured to send        configuration information of a first physical downlink control        channel on a predefined resource, where the configuration        information of the first physical downlink control channel is        used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the first        physical downlink control channel; and

a control channel sending module, configured to send the first physicaldownlink control channel according to the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel.

In a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, theconfiguration information sending module is specifically configured tosend a random access response message on the predefined resource, wherethe random access response message carries the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the configurationinformation sending module is specifically configured to:

send scheduling information of a random access response message on thepredefined resource, where the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message is used to indicate manners of sending andreceiving the random access response message; and

send the random access response message according to the schedulinginformation of the random access response message, where the randomaccess response message carries the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

With reference to the third aspect or the second possible implementationmanner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner,an operation of sending, by the configuration information sendingmodule, the scheduling information of the random access response messageon the predefined resource, where the scheduling information of therandom access response message is used to indicate the manners ofsending and receiving the random access response message isspecifically:

determining a common search space on the predefined resource; and

sending, in the common search space, a second physical downlink controlchannel used to schedule the random access response message, where thesecond physical downlink control channel carries the schedulinginformation of the random access response message.

With reference to the third aspect or the first, or the second, or thethird possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourthpossible implementation manner, an operation of sending, by theconfiguration information sending module, the random access responsemessage, where the random access response message carries theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis specifically:

sending the random access response message, and adding indicationinformation to the random access response message, where the indicationinformation includes scheduling information of a random accesscontention resolution message, and the scheduling information of therandom access contention resolution message is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the random access contention resolutionmessage; and

sending the random access contention resolution message, where therandom access contention resolution message carries the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel; or

sending the random access response message, and adding indicationinformation to the random access response message, where the indicationinformation includes configuration information of a third physicaldownlink control channel, the configuration information of the thirdphysical downlink control channel is used to indicate manners of sendingand receiving the third physical downlink control channel, the thirdphysical downlink control channel is used to transmit schedulinginformation of a random access contention resolution message, thescheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the randomaccess contention resolution message, and the configuration informationof the third physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in a physical downlink control resource of thethird physical downlink control channel; and

sending the random access contention resolution message, where therandom access contention resolution message carries the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

With reference to the third aspect or the fourth possible implementationmanner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner,an operation of adding, by the configuration information sending module,the indication information to the random access response message isspecifically:

adding a new field to the random access response message, where the newfield includes the indication information; or

re-explaining an existing field in the random access response message,and writing the indication information into the existing field that isre-explained.

With reference to the third aspect or the first or the second possibleimplementation manner of the third aspect, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner, that the random access response message carriesthe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel includes:

adding a new field to the random access response message, where the newfield includes the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel; or

re-explaining an existing field in the random access response message,and writing the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel into the existing field that is re-explained.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementationmanner of the third aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner,the first physical downlink control channel is a physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule a random access contention resolutionmessage.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the configurationinformation sending module is specifically configured to send, on thepredefined resource, a data channel carrying the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel, where thedata channel is sent in an unscheduled manner.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the configurationinformation sending module is specifically configured to:

send a fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource, and add the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel to the fourth physical downlink controlchannel; or

send a fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource; and

send, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner, the predefinedresource is a part or all of a physical downlink control channelresource, the physical downlink control channel resource is a set of aresource to which a physical downlink control channel is mapped, and aquantity of the physical downlink control channel resources is one ormore.

With reference to any one of the third aspect or the first to the tenthpossible implementation manners of the third aspect, in an eleventhpossible implementation manner, the predefined resource is determined byusing a preset rule; and/or

notified by using a higher layer; or

one or more resources are configured by using a higher layer, and thepredefined resource is determined from the one or more resources byusing a predefined rule.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, the preset ruleincludes:

the predefined resource is determined according to a quantity ofphysical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and the predefinedresource includes one or more physical resource blocks.

With reference to any one of the third aspect or the first to thetwelfth possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in athirteenth possible implementation manner, the predefined resourceincludes a predefined time frequency resource.

With reference to any one of the third aspect or the first to thethirteenth possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in afourteenth possible implementation manner, the predefined resource is apart of a predefined narrowband resource, and the first physicaldownlink control channel is a part of the predefined resource on thepredefined narrowband resource, or is a part of the predefined resourceon another narrowband resource that is not predefined.

With reference to any one of the third aspect or the first to thefourteenth possible implementation manners of the third aspect, in afifteenth possible implementation manner, the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in the first physical downlink control channel.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure providesuser equipment, including:

a configuration information receiving module, configured to receiveconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channelon a predefined resource, where the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel is used to indicate manners ofsending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel; and

a control channel receiving module, configured to receive the firstphysical downlink control channel according to the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, theconfiguration information receiving module is specifically configuredto: receive a random access response message on the predefined resource,and obtain the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel carried in the random access response message.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the configurationinformation receiving module is specifically configured to:

receive scheduling information of a random access response message onthe predefined resource, where the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message is used to indicate manners of sending andreceiving the random access response message; and receive the randomaccess response message according to the scheduling information of therandom access response message, and obtain the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel carried in the randomaccess response message.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the second possibleimplementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possibleimplementation manner, an operation of receiving, by the configurationinformation receiving module, the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message on the predefined resource is specifically:

determining a common search space on the predefined resource; and

receiving, in the common search space, a second physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message, andobtaining the scheduling information that is of the random accessresponse message and that is carried in the second physical downlinkcontrol channel.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first, or the second, or thethird possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourthpossible implementation manner, an operation of obtaining, by theconfiguration information receiving module, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel carried inthe random access response message is specifically:

receiving the random access response message, and obtaining indicationinformation carried in the random access response message, where theindication information includes scheduling information of a randomaccess contention resolution message, and the scheduling information ofthe random access contention resolution message is used to indicatemanners of sending and receiving the random access contention resolutionmessage; and

receiving the random access contention resolution message according tothe scheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage, and obtaining the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel carried in the random accesscontention resolution message; or

receiving the random access response message, and obtaining indicationinformation carried in the random access response message, where theindication information includes configuration information of a thirdphysical downlink control channel, the configuration information of thethird physical downlink control channel is used to indicate manners ofsending and receiving the third physical downlink control channel, thethird physical downlink control channel is used to transmit schedulinginformation of a random access contention resolution message, thescheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the randomaccess contention resolution message, and the configuration informationof the third physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in a physical downlink control resource of thethird physical downlink control channel; and

receiving the random access contention resolution message according tothe scheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage, and obtaining the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel carried in the random accesscontention resolution message.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the fourth possibleimplementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possibleimplementation manner, the indication information is added by a basestation device to the random access response message in the followingmanner:

adding a new field to the random access response message, where the newfield includes the indication information; or

re-explaining an existing field in the random access response message,and writing the indication information into the existing field that isre-explained.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the configurationinformation receiving module is specifically configured to: receive, onthe predefined resource, a data channel carrying the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel, and obtainthe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel, where the data channel is sent in an unscheduled manner.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first or the second possibleimplementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner, that the random access response message carriesthe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel includes:

adding a new field to the random access response message, where the newfield includes the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel; or

re-explaining an existing field in the random access response message,and writing the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel into the existing field that is re-explained.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementationmanner of the fourth aspect, in a seventh possible implementationmanner, the first physical downlink control channel is a physicaldownlink control channel used to schedule a random access contentionresolution message.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the configurationinformation receiving module is specifically configured to:

receive a fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource, and obtain the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel carried in the fourth physical downlink controlchannel; or

receive a fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource; and

receive, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and obtain the first physical downlink controlchannel.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the predefinedresource is a part or all of a physical downlink control channelresource, the physical downlink control channel resource is a set of aresource to which a physical downlink control channel is mapped, and aquantity of the physical downlink control channel resources is one ormore.

With reference to any one of the fourth aspect or the first to the tenthpossible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in an eleventhpossible implementation manner, the predefined resource is determined byusing a preset rule; and/or

notified by using a higher layer; or

one or more resources are configured by using a higher layer, and thepredefined resource is determined from the one or more resources byusing a predefined rule.

With reference to the possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, the preset ruleincludes:

the predefined resource is determined according to a quantity ofphysical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and the predefinedresource includes one or more physical resource blocks.

With reference to any one of the fourth aspect or the first to thetwelfth possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in athirteenth possible implementation manner, the predefined resourceincludes a predefined time frequency resource.

With reference to any one of the fourth aspect or the first to thethirteenth possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in afourteenth possible implementation manner, the predefined resource is apart of a predefined narrowband resource, and the first physicaldownlink control channel is a part of the predefined resource on thepredefined narrowband resource, or is a part of the predefined resourceon another narrowband resource that is not predefined.

With reference to any one of the fourth aspect or the first to thefourteenth possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in afifteenth possible implementation manner, the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in the first physical downlink control channel.

A fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides acomputer storage medium, where the computer storage medium stores aprogram, and when the program is executed, some or all steps in thephysical downlink control channel sending method provided in the firstaspect are performed.

A sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides acomputer storage medium, where the computer storage medium stores aprogram, and when the program is executed, some or all steps in thephysical downlink control channel receiving method provided in thesecond aspect are performed.

A seventh aspect of the present disclosure provides a base stationdevice, where the base station device includes: a network interface, amemory, and a processor, where the memory stores a group of program, andthe processor is configured to invoke the program stored in the memory,to perform the following operations:

sending configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource, where the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel;and

sending the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

A seventh aspect of the present disclosure provides user equipment,where the user equipment includes: a network interface, a memory, and aprocessor, where the memory stores a group of program, and the processoris configured to invoke the program stored in the memory, to perform thefollowing operations:

receiving configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource, where the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel;and

receiving the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, first, configuration information of a physical downlinkcontrol channel is sent on a predefined resource, and the physicaldownlink control channel is sent according to the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel, therebyimplementing sending of a physical downlink control channel, andresolving a problem that when narrowband user equipment works in asystem whose system bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth ofthe narrowband user equipment, transmission of a physical downlinkcontrol channel cannot be implemented. The physical downlink controlchannel includes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCHchannel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To describe embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly, thefollowing briefly describes the accompanying drawings required fordescribing the embodiments. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in thefollowing description show merely some embodiments of the presentdisclosure, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still deriveother drawings from these accompanying drawings without creativeefforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a physical downlink control channelsending method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of another physical downlink controlchannel sending method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of still another physical downlinkcontrol channel sending method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of still another physical downlinkcontrol channel sending method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a physical downlink control channelreceiving method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of another physical downlink controlchannel receiving method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of still another physical downlinkcontrol channel receiving method according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of still another physical downlinkcontrol channel receiving method according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of user equipment according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another base station deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another user equipmentaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a frequency band resource according toan embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of fields in a random access responsemessage according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following clearly describes the technical solutions in theembodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Apparently, thedescribed embodiments are merely some but not all of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure. All other embodiments obtained by a person ofordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the presentdisclosure without creative efforts shall fall within the protectionscope of the present disclosure.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure maybe applied to various communications systems, such as: a Global Systemof Mobile Communications (Global System of Mobile communication, “GSM”for short) system, a Code Division Multiple Access (Code DivisionMultiple Access, “CDMA” for short) system, a Wideband Code DivisionMultiple Access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, “WCDMA” forshort) system, a general packet radio service (General Packet RadioService, “GPRS” for short), a Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution,“LTE” for short) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FrequencyDivision Duplex, “FDD” for short) system, an LTE time division duplex(Time Division Duplex, “TDD” for short), a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System,“UMTS” for short), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, “WiMAX” for short)communications system or the like.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, user equipment (UserEquipment, “UE” for short) may include a terminal (Terminal), a mobilestation (Mobile Station, “MS” for short), a mobile terminal (MobileTerminal), and the like. The user equipment may communicate with one ormore core networks through a radio access network (Radio Access Network,“RAN” for short). For example, the user equipment may be a mobile phone(also referred to as a “cellular” phone) or a computer with a mobileterminal. For example, the user equipment may also be a portable,pocket-sized, handheld, computer built-in, or in-vehicle mobileapparatus, which exchanges voice and/or data with the radio accessnetwork.

Abase station device in the embodiments of the present disclosure may bea base station (Base Transceiver Station, “BTS” for short) in GSM orCDMA, may be a base station (NodeB, “NB” for short) in WCDMA, or mayfurther be an evolved NodeB (Evolved Node B, “eNB” for short) in LTE.

It should be understood that, “transmission of a physical downlinkcontrol channel” mentioned in the embodiments of the present disclosureincludes “sending and receiving a physical downlink control channel”,and refers to: Transmit data, for example, scheduling information or DCI(Downlink Control Information), of a physical downlink control channelon the physical downlink control channel, for example, on a PDCCH or anEPDCCH.

It should be further understood that, a physical resource block in theembodiments of the present disclosure may be a PRB (Physical ResourceBlock). The PRB is a resource used for data transmission. A size of theresource is measured by using a frequency (a unit is carrier) and time(a unit is timeslot). Generally, one PRB includes 12 consecutivecarriers in a frequency domain and one timeslot in a time domain.

It should be noted that, an essence of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be understood as: A physical downlink control channel isdivided into a pre-known physical downlink control channel and aphysical downlink control channel that is not pre-known. Pre-knowingrefers to: A base station device and user equipment already pre-knowconfiguration information of the physical downlink control channel. Inthe present disclosure, the pre-known physical downlink control channelis sent on a predefined resource, to configure the physical downlinkcontrol channel that is not pre-known. It should be noted that, in theembodiments of the present disclosure, the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is a physical downlink control channel that is notpre-known, and the second, third, and fourth physical downlink controlchannels are pre-known physical downlink control channels.

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a physical downlink control channelsending method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Themethod is implemented in a base station device. As shown in the figure,a process of the physical downlink control channel sending method inthis embodiment may include the following steps.

S101: Send configuration information of a first physical downlinkcontrol channel on a predefined resource, where the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel is used toindicate manners of sending and receiving the first physical downlinkcontrol channel.

The predefined resource may be one or more time frequency resources, butis not limited to the time frequency resource. For example, thepredefined resource may be a code domain resource, and/or a spatialresource. It should be noted that, this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is described by using a time frequency resource as anexample.

The predefined resource is a part of a predefined narrowband resource,and a physical downlink control channel is a part of the predefinedresource on the predefined narrowband resource, or is a part of thepredefined resource on another narrowband resource that is notpredefined. In an optional embodiment, referring to a schematic diagram,shown in FIG. 13, of a frequency band resource, a relationship among thepredefined narrowband resource, another narrowband resource that is notpredefined, and the physical downlink control channel is shown in thefigure. Predefining refers to: The base station device and userequipment already predefine configuration information, for example, alocation of a resource used for transmission and a quantity of resourcesused for transmission, and a scrambling sequence used for transmission.It should be understood that the predefined resource and the predefinednarrowband resource respectively are a resource whose configurationinformation is already predefined and a narrowband resource whoseconfiguration information is already predefined.

The physical downlink control channel is a control channel carryingscheduling information. For example, the physical downlink controlchannel in this embodiment of the present disclosure includes one ormore of a PDCCH, an EPDCCH, an RPDCCH, or the like, and especially,refers to an EPDCCH. The method in the present disclosure is describedby using an example in which the physical downlink control channel is anEPDCCH. In addition, configuration information of the physical downlinkcontrol channel may indicate a transmission manner of the physicaldownlink control channel, or a manner of transmitting data of thephysical downlink control channel on the physical downlink controlchannel, for example, a location of a resource used for transmission anda quantity of resources used for transmission, a scrambling sequenceused for transmission, and configuration of a physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH).

Further, the configuration information of the physical downlink controlchannel includes configuration information of a common search space(that is, “CSS”) in the physical downlink control channel, and/orconfiguration information of a user equipment specific search space(that is, “USS”) in the physical downlink control channel. The physicaldownlink control channel especially refers to the first physicaldownlink control channel and a third physical downlink control channel.For example, the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a CSSand/or configuration information of a USS in the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and configuration information of the third physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a CSSand/or configuration information of a USS in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel.

Specifically, the base station device sends the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel on thepredefined resource. The configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel is used to indicate the manners of sending andreceiving the first physical downlink control channel. The manner ofreceiving, by the user equipment, the first physical downlink controlchannel may be, for example, a location of a resource used to receivethe first physical downlink control channel and a quantity of resourcesused to receive the first physical downlink control channel, a usedscrambling sequence, and a used uplink control channel resource.

Further, the predefined resource may be a part or all of a physicaldownlink control channel resource. The physical downlink control channelresource is a set of a resource to which the physical downlink controlchannel is mapped, and a quantity of the physical downlink controlchannel resources is one or more. It should be noted that, that “thephysical downlink control channel resource is a set of a resource towhich the physical downlink control channel is mapped” refers to that“the physical downlink control channel resource is a set of a resourceto which the physical downlink control channel may be mapped”. Forexample, the predefined resource is a part of a CSS resource of apre-known physical downlink control channel. In this embodiment of thepresent disclosure, other configuration information of a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the CSS (for example, configurationinformation of all CSSs in the physical downlink control channel of theCSS, or configuration information of a USS in the physical downlinkcontrol channel of the CSS) may be sent by using the predefinedresource. Furthermore, if one or more physical downlink control channelresources are defined in a communications system, the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel may be used toconfigure a physical downlink control channel on the one or morephysical downlink control channel resources. For example, the predefinedresource is a part or all of a CSS resource of a pre-known physicaldownlink control channel resource. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, physical downlink control channel configuration of one ormore physical downlink control channel resources other than thepre-known physical downlink control channel resource may be sent on thepredefined resource.

Based on the foregoing description, in a specific implementationprocess, a specific implementation manner of sending, by the basestation device, the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel on the predefined resource may be implementedby using the following three solutions.

Solution 1: The base station device sends a random access responsemessage on the predefined resource, where the random access responsemessage carries the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel. The “carrying” herein may refer to“including”, that is, the random access response message includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Alternatively, the base station device sends scheduling information ofthe random access response message on the predefined resource, where thescheduling information of the random access response message is used toindicate manners of sending and receiving the random access responsemessage; and sends the random access response message according to thescheduling information of the random access response message, and addsthe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel to the random access response message. It should be noted thatthe manner of receiving, by the user equipment, the random accessresponse message may be, for example, a location of a resource blockused to receive the random access response message and a quantity ofresource blocks used to receive the random access response message,and/or a used modulation and coding scheme. Further, a specificoperation of “sending, by the base station device, the schedulinginformation of the random access response message on the predefinedresource” may be: first determining, by the base station device, acommon search space on the predefined resource; then, sending, in thecommon search space, a second physical downlink control channel used toschedule the random access response message, where the second physicaldownlink control channel carries the scheduling information of therandom access response message. Similarly, the “carrying” herein mayalso refer to “including”.

In the foregoing description, the random access response message is anRAR (Random Access Response) message, and how to send a common messagebefore the RAR is not limited in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure. For example, how to send a public broadcast channel (PBCH)and a system message (SIB1 (System Information Block), or SI) before theRAR is not limited in the present disclosure. Certainly, the commonmessage before the RAR may be used to configure the predefined resource.

Optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing method, an operation of “sending the random access responsemessage, and adding the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel to the random access response message”:sending, by the base station device, the random access response message,and adding indication information to the random access response message,where the indication information includes the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel. In an optionalimplementation manner, the first physical downlink control channel isused to schedule a random access contention resolution message Msg4,that is, the indication information carried in the random accessresponse message includes configuration information of a physicaldownlink control channel of the random access contention resolutionmessage Msg4.

Further, optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “sending the random accessresponse message, and adding the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel to the random access responsemessage”. 1. The base station device sends the random access responsemessage, and adds indication information to the random access responsemessage, where the indication information includes schedulinginformation of a random access contention resolution message, and thescheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the randomaccess contention resolution message; and sends the random accesscontention resolution message, where the random access contentionresolution message carries the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel. Similarly, the “carrying” herein mayalso refer to “including”. 2. The base station device sends the randomaccess response message, and adds indication information to the randomaccess response message, where the indication information includesconfiguration information of a third physical downlink control channel,the configuration information of the third physical downlink controlchannel is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the thirdphysical downlink control channel, the third physical downlink controlchannel is used to transmit scheduling information of a random accesscontention resolution message, the scheduling information of the randomaccess contention resolution message is used to indicate manners ofsending and receiving the random access contention resolution message,and the configuration information of the third physical downlink controlchannel includes configuration information of a common search space inthe third physical downlink control channel, and/or configurationinformation of a user equipment specific search space in a physicaldownlink control resource of the third physical downlink controlchannel; and sends the random access contention resolution message,where the random access contention resolution message carries theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

In the foregoing description, the random access contention resolutionmessage may be an MSG4. The MSG4 may be used to resolve a problem ofconflicts in a random access process caused by the fact that the userequipment selects a same random access resource, for example, the userequipment chooses to send a same random access preamble sequence on asame time frequency resource. It should be noted that, a difference fromthis embodiment of the present disclosure lies in: According to anexisting protocol, the RAR message carries only scheduling informationof an MSG3 (that is, a random access procedure message 3), and does notcarry scheduling information of the MSG4 or a third physical downlinkcontrol channel used to transmit scheduling information of the MSG4.

Further optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “adding the indicationinformation to the random access response message”. 1. The base stationdevice adds a new field to the random access response message, where thenew field includes the indication information. 2. The base stationdevice re-explains an existing field in the random access responsemessage, and adds the indication information to the existing field thatis re-explained. The re-explaining an existing field is: Re-define usageof some bits of the existing field. In an optional example, referring toa schematic diagram, shown in FIG. 14, of fields of the random accessresponse message, as shown in the figure, a UL Grant field is used toschedule the MSG3, and the field occupies a capacity of 20 bits.However, in a scenario of a narrowband resource, fewer bits than 20 bitsare needed to schedule the MSG3. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the field may be re-explained, only several bits are used toschedule the MSG3, and the remaining bits are used to transmit theindication information.

Similarly, optionally, the base station device may implement, by usingthe following two manners, an operation of “adding the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel to the randomaccess response message”. 1. The base station device adds a new field tothe random access response message, where the new field includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. 2. The base station device re-explains an existing field of therandom access response message, and writes the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel into the existing fieldthat is re-explained.

Solution 2. The base station device sends, on the predefined resource, adata channel carrying the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel. The data channel is sent in anunscheduled manner. It should be noted that the existing data channel issent in a scheduled manner. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the scheduled manner is not used, for example, a pre-knownmodulation and coding scheme or a manner without feedback is used.

It should be noted that sending a data channel refers to sending data ofthe data channel on the data channel.

Optionally, the data channel in this solution may be a random accesscontention resolution message. That is, the base station device sendsthe random access contention resolution message on the predefinedresource, and adds the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel to the random access contention resolutionmessage. In this embodiment, a method for transmitting a message beforethe random access contention resolution message is not limited, and amanner of determining the predefined resource is not limited. Forexample, information about the predefined resource is determined in amanner of notification by using a system message or a random accessresponse message, or in a manner of determining by using a pre-knownrule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends, on a predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying configuration information of an EPDCCH. A manner ofsending the message carrying the configuration information of the EPDCCHmay be a modulation and coding scheme. The configuration information ofthe EPDCCH may be configuration information of a CSS in the EPDCCH onone or more EPDCCH resources, for example, on the predefined narrowbandresource, or may be configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH onanother narrowband resource. The configuration information of the CSSmay be, for example, a location of a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size ofthe PRB, and/or a starting symbol location, and/or a transmission manner(for example, a centralized manner or a distributed manner), and/or asubframe mode.

The user equipment receives, on the predefined narrowband resource, themessage carrying the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH,obtains the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH accordingto the received message, and listens to the EPDCCH in a CSS on anarrowband resource of the selected EPDCCH.

A network determines configuration of a CSS in an EPDCCH on one or moreEPDCCH resources, sends, on the predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying the determined configuration information of the CSS inthe EPDCCH, and sends the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on theselected one or more EPDCCH narrowband resources, so that the userequipment may listen to the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on the sameselected EPDCCH narrowband resource.

It should be noted that, the user equipment and the network need todetermine the selected EPDCCH narrowband resource according to a samerule, to ensure that the narrowband resource on which the user equipmentlistens to the EPDCCH is the same as the narrowband resource on whichthe network sends the EPDCCH.

In addition, optionally, the configuration information of the CSS in theEPDCCH may be configuration information of a USS in the EPDCCH, and thisexample is not listed.

Solution 3. The base station device sends a fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel on the predefined resource, where the fourth physicaldownlink control channel carries the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel. Similarly, the “carrying”herein may also refer to “including”.

Alternatively, the base station device sends the fourth physicaldownlink control channel on the predefined resource, and sends,according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, a messagecarrying the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel. The message carrying the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel may be a common message, ora user equipment specific message.

Optionally, the fourth physical downlink control channel in thissolution may be a physical downlink control channel used to schedule arandom access contention resolution message. That is, the base stationdevice sends, on the predefined resource, the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule the random access contention resolutionmessage, receives the random access contention resolution messageaccording to the fourth physical downlink control channel, and adds theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelto the random access contention resolution message. Similarly, in thissolution, a manner of transmitting a channel and a message before thefourth physical downlink control channel is not limited, and a manner ofdetermining the predefined resource is not limited. For example,information about the predefined resource is determined in a manner ofnotification by using a system message or a random access responsemessage, or in a manner of determining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends a fourth EPDCCH channel on a predefinednarrowband resource. Configuration information of a CSS on a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH is pre-known,that is, the base station device and the user equipment already pre-knowthe configuration information of the CSS on the physical downlinkcontrol channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH, for example, a locationof a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size of the PRB, and/or a starting symbollocation, and/or a transmission manner (for example, a centralizedmanner or a distributed manner), and/or a subframe mode.

The user equipment receives the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefinednarrowband resource, and obtains the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel from the received fourth EPDCCHchannel; or receives, by using the received fourth EPDCCH channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

A network sends the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefined resource,and adds the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel to the fourth physical downlink control channel; orsends, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

Especially, in the foregoing solution 1, solution 2, and solution 3, thepredefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated in a system orstandard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling. Thesignaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information.

The predefined resource may be determined in the following threemanners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that in solution1, n PRBs are used to send an RAR message, or in solution 2, n PRBs areused to send configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH, or insolution 3, a CSS in an EPDCCH includes n PRB resources, the index ofthe starting PRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is aninteger multiple of n. In another embodiment, the index of the startingPRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is an integer multipleof n plus or minus a preset compensation value. Further, if there aremultiple predefined resources, for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs startingfrom a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 2, information istransmitted only according to a quantity of resources being 2, and inPRBs starting from a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 4,information is transmitted only according to a quantity of resourcesbeing 4. It should be noted that, the predefined resource may bedetermined uniquely in a specific moment, for example, a predefinedresource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determined uniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

S102: Send the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the base station device determines a sending parameteraccording to the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and sends the first physical downlink controlchannel according to the sending parameter, so that the user equipmentreceives the first physical downlink control channel.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, in S101, theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channeldoes not need to be sent, and the first physical downlink controlchannel may be sent on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, configuration information of a physical downlinkcontrol channel is sent on a predefined resource, and the physicaldownlink control channel is sent according to the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel, therebyimplementing sending of a physical downlink control channel, andresolving a problem that when narrowband user equipment works in asystem whose system bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth ofthe narrowband user equipment, transmission of a physical downlinkcontrol channel cannot be implemented. The physical downlink controlchannel includes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCHchannel.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of another physical downlink controlchannel sending method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The method is implemented in a base station device, andincludes a specific implementation process of solution 1 mentioned inthe embodiment corresponding to FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, aprocess of the physical downlink control channel sending method in thisembodiment may include the following steps.

S201: Send a random access response message on a predefined resource,where the random access response message carries configurationinformation of a first physical downlink control channel.

The random access response message is an RAR (Random Access Response)message, and how to send a common message before the RAR is not limitedin this embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, how to send apublic broadcast channel (PBCH) and a system message (SIB1 (SystemInformation Block), or SI) before the RAR is not limited in the presentdisclosure. Certainly, the common message before the RAR may be used toconfigure the predefined resource.

Specifically, the base station device sends the random access responsemessage on the predefined resource, where the random access responsemessage carries the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel. The “carrying” herein may refer to“including”, that is, the random access response message includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

In an optional implementation manner, the base station device may firstsend scheduling information of the random access response message on thepredefined resource, where the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message is used to indicate manners of sending andreceiving the random access response message; then, send the randomaccess response message according to the scheduling information of therandom access response message, and add the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel to the random accessresponse message. It should be noted that the manner of receiving, byuser equipment, the random access response message may be, for example,a location of a resource block used to receive the random accessresponse message and a quantity of resource blocks used to receive therandom access response message, and/or a used modulation and codingscheme. Further, a specific operation of “sending, by the base stationdevice, the scheduling information of the random access response messageon the predefined resource” may be: first determining, by the basestation device, a common search space on the predefined resource; then,sending, in the common search space, a second physical downlink controlchannel used to schedule the random access response message, where thesecond physical downlink control channel carries the schedulinginformation of the random access response message. Similarly, the“carrying” herein may also refer to “including”.

Optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing method, an operation of “sending the random access responsemessage, and adding the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel to the random access response message”:sending, by the base station device, the random access response message,and adding indication information to the random access response message,where the indication information includes the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel. In an optionalimplementation manner, the first physical downlink control channel isused to schedule a random access contention resolution message Msg4,that is, the indication information carried in the random accessresponse message includes configuration information of a physicaldownlink control channel of the random access contention resolutionmessage Msg4.

Further, optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “sending the random accessresponse message, and adding the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel to the random access responsemessage”. 1. The base station device sends the random access responsemessage, and adds indication information to the random access responsemessage, where the indication information includes schedulinginformation of a random access contention resolution message, and thescheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the randomaccess contention resolution message; and sends the random accesscontention resolution message, where the random access contentionresolution message carries the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel. Similarly, the “carrying” herein mayalso refer to “including”. 2. The base station device sends the randomaccess response message, and adds indication information to the randomaccess response message, where the indication information includesconfiguration information of a third physical downlink control channel,the configuration information of the third physical downlink controlchannel is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the thirdphysical downlink control channel, the third physical downlink controlchannel is used to transmit scheduling information of a random accesscontention resolution message, the scheduling information of the randomaccess contention resolution message is used to indicate manners ofsending and receiving the random access contention resolution message,and the configuration information of the third physical downlink controlchannel includes configuration information of a common search space inthe third physical downlink control channel, and/or configurationinformation of a user equipment specific search space in a physicaldownlink control resource of the third physical downlink controlchannel; and sends the random access contention resolution message,where the random access contention resolution message carries theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

In the foregoing description, the random access contention resolutionmessage may be an MSG4. The MSG4 may be used to resolve a problem ofconflicts in a random access process caused by the fact that the userequipment selects a same random access resource, for example, the userequipment chooses to send a same random access preamble sequence on asame time frequency resource. It should be noted that, a difference fromthis embodiment of the present disclosure lies in: According to anexisting protocol, the RAR message carries only scheduling informationof an MSG3 (that is, a random access procedure message 3), and does notcarry scheduling information of the MSG4 or a third physical downlinkcontrol channel used to transmit scheduling information of the MSG4.

Further optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “adding the indicationinformation to the random access response message”. 1. The base stationdevice adds a new field to the random access response message, where thenew field includes the indication information. 2. The base stationdevice re-explains an existing field in the random access responsemessage, and adds the indication information to the existing field thatis re-explained. The re-explaining an existing field is: Re-define usageof some bits of the existing field. In an optional example, referring toa schematic diagram, shown in FIG. 14, of fields of the random accessresponse message, as shown in the figure, a UL Grant field is used toschedule the MSG3, and the field occupies a capacity of 20 bits.However, in a scenario of a narrowband resource, fewer bits than 20 bitsare needed to schedule the MSG3. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the field may be re-explained, only several bits are used toschedule the MSG3, and the remaining bits are used to transmit theindication information.

Similarly, optionally, the base station device may implement, by usingthe following two manners, an operation of “adding the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel to the randomaccess response message”. 1. The base station device adds a new field tothe random access response message, where the new field includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. 2. The base station device re-explains an existing field of therandom access response message, and writes the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel into the existing fieldthat is re-explained.

Especially, the predefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated ina system or standard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling.The signaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC element, aphysical control channel, or control information. The predefinedresource in this embodiment of the present disclosure may be determinedin the following three manners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that in solution1, n PRBs are used to send an RAR message, or in solution 2, n PRBs areused to send configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH, or insolution 3, a CSS in an EPDCCH includes n PRB resources, the index ofthe starting PRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is aninteger multiple of n. In another embodiment, the index of the startingPRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is an integer multipleof n plus or minus a preset compensation value. Further, if there aremultiple predefined resources, for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs startingfrom a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 2, information istransmitted only according to a quantity of resources being 2, and inPRBs starting from a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 4,information is transmitted only according to a quantity of resourcesbeing 4. It should be noted that, the predefined resource may bedetermined uniquely in a specific moment, for example, a predefinedresource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determined uniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

S202: Send the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the base station device determines a sending parameteraccording to the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and sends the first physical downlink controlchannel according to the sending parameter, so that the user equipmentreceives the first physical downlink control channel.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, in S201, theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channeldoes not need to be sent, and the first physical downlink controlchannel may be sent on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, an RAR message is sent on a predefined resource,configuration information of a first physical downlink control channelis added to the RAR message, and the first physical downlink controlchannel is sent according to the configuration information of thephysical downlink control channel, thereby implementing sending of aphysical downlink control channel, and resolving a problem that whennarrowband user equipment works in a system whose system bandwidth isgreater than an operating bandwidth of the narrowband user equipment,transmission of a physical downlink control channel cannot beimplemented. The physical downlink control channel includes but is notlimited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCH channel.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of still another physical downlinkcontrol channel sending method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The method is implemented in a base station device, andincludes a specific implementation process of solution 2 mentioned inthe embodiment corresponding to FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, aprocess of the physical downlink control channel sending method in thisembodiment may include the following steps.

S301: Send, on a predefined resource, a data channel carryingconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channel.

The data channel is sent in an unscheduled manner. It should be notedthat the existing data channel is sent in a scheduled manner. In thisembodiment of the present disclosure, the scheduled manner is not used,for example, a pre-known modulation and coding scheme or a mannerwithout feedback is used. Specifically, the base station device sends,on the predefined resource, the data channel carrying the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

It should be noted that sending a data channel refers to sending data ofthe data channel on the data channel.

Optionally, the data channel in this solution may be a random accesscontention resolution message. That is, the base station device sendsthe random access contention resolution message on the predefinedresource, and adds the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel to the random access contention resolutionmessage. In this embodiment, a method for transmitting a message beforethe random access contention resolution message is not limited, and amanner of determining the predefined resource is not limited. Forexample, information about the predefined resource is determined in amanner of notification by using a system message or a random accessresponse message, or in a manner of determining by using a pre-knownrule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends, on a predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying configuration information of an EPDCCH. A manner ofsending the message carrying the configuration information of the EPDCCHmay be a modulation and coding scheme. The configuration information ofthe EPDCCH may be configuration information of a CSS in the EPDCCH onone or more EPDCCH resources, for example, on the predefined narrowbandresource, or may be configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH onanother narrowband resource. The configuration information of the CSSmay be, for example, a location of a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size ofthe PRB, and/or a starting symbol location, and/or a transmission manner(for example, a centralized manner or a distributed manner), and/or asubframe mode.

User equipment receives, on the predefined narrowband resource, themessage carrying the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH,obtains the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH accordingto the received message, and listens to the EPDCCH in a CSS on anarrowband resource of the selected EPDCCH.

A network determines configuration of a CSS in an EPDCCH on one or moreEPDCCH resources, sends, on the predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying the determined configuration information of the CSS inthe EPDCCH, and sends the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on theselected one or more EPDCCH narrowband resources, so that the userequipment may listen to the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on the sameselected EPDCCH narrowband resource.

It should be noted that, the user equipment and the network need todetermine the selected EPDCCH narrowband resource according to a samerule, to ensure that the narrowband resource on which the user equipmentlistens to the EPDCCH is the same as the narrowband resource on whichthe network sends the EPDCCH.

In addition, optionally, the configuration information of the CSS in theEPDCCH may be configuration information of a USS in the EPDCCH, and thisexample is not listed.

Especially, the predefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated ina system or standard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling.The signaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information. The predefinedresource in this embodiment of the present disclosure may be determinedin the following three manners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that n PRBs areused to send an RAR message, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRBof the predefined resource is an integer multiple of n. In anotherembodiment, the index of the starting PRB or the ending PRB of thepredefined resource is an integer multiple of n plus or minus a presetcompensation value. Further, if there are multiple predefined resources,for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs starting from a PRB whose index is aninteger multiple of 2, information is transmitted only according to aquantity of resources being 2, and in PRBs starting from a PRB whoseindex is an integer multiple of 4, information is transmitted onlyaccording to a quantity of resources being 4. It should be noted that,the predefined resource may be determined uniquely in a specific moment,for example, a predefined resource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determineduniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

S302: Send the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the base station device determines a sending parameteraccording to the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and sends the first physical downlink controlchannel according to the sending parameter, so that the user equipmentreceives the first physical downlink control channel.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, in S301, theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channeldoes not need to be sent, and the first physical downlink controlchannel may be sent on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, a data channel carrying a first physical downlinkcontrol channel is sent on a predefined resource, and the first physicaldownlink control channel is sent according to configuration informationof the physical downlink control channel, thereby implementing sendingof a physical downlink control channel, and resolving a problem thatwhen narrowband user equipment works in a system whose system bandwidthis greater than an operating bandwidth of the narrowband user equipment,transmission of a physical downlink control channel cannot beimplemented. The physical downlink control channel includes but is notlimited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCH channel.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of still another physical downlinkcontrol channel sending method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The method is implemented in a base station device, andincludes a specific implementation process of solution 3 mentioned inthe embodiment corresponding to FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, aprocess of the physical downlink control channel sending method in thisembodiment may include the following steps.

S401: Send a fourth physical downlink control channel on a predefinedresource, where the fourth physical downlink control channel carriesconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channel.

Optionally, the base station device may first send the fourth physicaldownlink control channel on the predefined resource, and then, send,according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, a messagecarrying the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel. The message carrying the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel may be a common message, ora user equipment specific message.

Further optionally, the fourth physical downlink control channel in thissolution may be a physical downlink control channel used to schedule arandom access contention resolution message. That is, the base stationdevice sends, on the predefined resource, the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule the random access contention resolutionmessage, receives the random access contention resolution messageaccording to the fourth physical downlink control channel, and adds theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelto the random access contention resolution message. Similarly, in thissolution, a manner of transmitting a channel and a message before thefourth physical downlink control channel is not limited, and a manner ofdetermining the predefined resource is not limited. For example,information about the predefined resource is determined in a manner ofnotification by using a system message or a random access responsemessage, or in a manner of determining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends a fourth EPDCCH channel on a predefinednarrowband resource. Configuration information of a CSS on a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH is pre-known,that is, the base station device and user equipment already pre-know theconfiguration information of the CSS on the physical downlink controlchannel resource of the fourth EPDCCH, for example, a location of a PRBof the CSS, and/or a size of the PRB, and/or a starting symbol location,and/or a transmission manner (for example, a centralized manner or adistributed manner), and/or a subframe mode.

The user equipment receives the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefinednarrowband resource, and obtains the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel from the received fourth EPDCCHchannel; or receives, by using the received fourth EPDCCH channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

A network sends the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefined resource,and adds the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel to the fourth physical downlink control channel; orsends, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

Especially, the predefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated ina system or standard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling.The signaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information. The predefinedresource in this embodiment of the present disclosure may be determinedin the following three manners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that a CSS in anEPDCCH includes n PRBs, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB ofthe predefined resource is an integer multiple of n. In anotherembodiment, the index of the starting PRB or the ending PRB of thepredefined resource is an integer multiple of n plus or minus a presetcompensation value. Further, if there are multiple predefined resources,for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs starting from a PRB whose index is aninteger multiple of 2, information is transmitted only according to aquantity of resources being 2, and in PRBs starting from a PRB whoseindex is an integer multiple of 4, information is transmitted onlyaccording to a quantity of resources being 4. It should be noted that,the predefined resource may be determined uniquely in a specific moment,for example, a predefined resource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determineduniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

S402: Send the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the base station device determines a sending parameteraccording to the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and sends the first physical downlink controlchannel according to the sending parameter, so that the user equipmentreceives the first physical downlink control channel.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, in S401, theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channeldoes not need to be sent, and the first physical downlink controlchannel may be sent on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, configuration information of a fourth physicaldownlink control channel is sent on a predefined resource, configurationinformation of a first PDCCH is added to the configuration informationof the fourth physical downlink control channel, and the first physicaldownlink control channel is sent according to the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel, therebyimplementing sending of a physical downlink control channel, andresolving a problem that when narrowband user equipment works in asystem whose system bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth ofthe narrowband user equipment, transmission of a physical downlinkcontrol channel cannot be implemented. The physical downlink controlchannel includes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCHchannel.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a physical downlink control channelreceiving method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.The method is implemented in user equipment. As shown in the figure, aprocess of the physical downlink control channel receiving method inthis embodiment may include the following steps.

S501: Receive configuration information of a first physical downlinkcontrol channel on a predefined resource, where the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel is used toindicate manners of sending and receiving the first physical downlinkcontrol channel.

The predefined resource may be one or more time frequency resources, butis not limited to the time frequency resource. For example, thepredefined resource may be a code domain resource, and/or a spatialresource. It should be noted that, this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is described by using a time frequency resource as anexample.

The predefined resource is a part of a predefined narrowband resource,and a physical downlink control channel is a part of the predefinedresource on the predefined narrowband resource, or is a part of thepredefined resource on another narrowband resource that is notpredefined. In an optional embodiment, referring to a schematic diagram,shown in FIG. 13, of a frequency band resource, a relationship among thepredefined narrowband resource, another narrowband resource that is notpredefined, and the physical downlink control channel is shown in thefigure. Predefining refers to: A base station device and the userequipment already predefine configuration information, for example, alocation of a resource used for transmission and a quantity of resourcesused for transmission, and a scrambling sequence used for transmission.It should be understood that the predefined resource and the predefinednarrowband resource respectively are a resource whose configurationinformation is already predefined and a narrowband resource whoseconfiguration information is already predefined.

The physical downlink control channel is a control channel carryingscheduling information. For example, the physical downlink controlchannel in this embodiment of the present disclosure includes one ormore of a PDCCH, an EPDCCH, an RPDCCH, or the like, and especially,refers to an EPDCCH. The method in the present disclosure is describedby using an example in which the physical downlink control channel is anEPDCCH. In addition, configuration information of the physical downlinkcontrol channel may indicate a transmission manner of the physicaldownlink control channel, or a manner of transmitting data of thephysical downlink control channel on the physical downlink controlchannel, for example, a location of a resource used for transmission anda quantity of resources used for transmission, a scrambling sequenceused for transmission, and configuration of an uplink control channel(PUCCH).

Further, the configuration information of the physical downlink controlchannel includes configuration information of a common search space(that is, “CSS”) in the physical downlink control channel, and/orconfiguration information of a user equipment specific search space(that is, “USS”) in the physical downlink control channel. The physicaldownlink control channel especially refers to the first physicaldownlink control channel and a third physical downlink control channel.For example, the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a CSSand/or configuration information of a USS in the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and configuration information of the third physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a CSSand/or configuration information of a USS in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel.

Specifically, the user equipment receives the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource. The manner of receiving, by the user equipment, the firstphysical downlink control channel may be, for example, a location of aresource used to receive the first physical downlink control channel anda quantity of resources used to receive the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or a used scrambling sequence, and/or a used uplinkcontrol channel resource.

Further, the predefined resource may be a part or all of a physicaldownlink control channel resource. The physical downlink control channelresource is a set of a resource to which the physical downlink controlchannel is mapped, and a quantity of the physical downlink controlchannel resources is one or more. It should be noted that, that “thephysical downlink control channel resource is a set of a resource towhich the physical downlink control channel is mapped” refers to that“the physical downlink control channel resource is a set of a resourceto which the physical downlink control channel may be mapped”. Forexample, the predefined resource is a part of a CSS resource of apre-known physical downlink control channel. In this embodiment of thepresent disclosure, other configuration information of a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the CSS (for example, configurationinformation of all CSSs in the physical downlink control channel of theCSS, or configuration information of a USS in the physical downlinkcontrol channel of the CSS) may be received by using the predefinedresource. Furthermore, if one or more physical downlink control channelresources are defined in a communications system, the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel may be used toconfigure a physical downlink control channel on the one or morephysical downlink control channel resources. For example, the predefinedresource is a part or all of a CSS resource of a pre-known physicaldownlink control channel resource. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, physical downlink control channel configuration of one ormore physical downlink control channel resources other than thepre-known physical downlink control channel resource may be received onthe predefined resource.

Based on the foregoing description, in a specific implementationprocess, a specific implementation manner of receiving, by the userequipment, the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel on the predefined resource may be implemented by usingthe following three solutions.

Solution 1: The user equipment receives a random access response messageon the predefined resource, where the random access response messagecarries the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel. The “carrying” herein may refer to “including”, thatis, the random access response message includes the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

Alternatively, the user equipment receives scheduling information of therandom access response message on the predefined resource, where thescheduling information of the random access response message is used toindicate manners of sending and receiving the random access responsemessage; and receives the random access response message according tothe scheduling information of the random access response message, andobtains the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel carried in the random access response message. It shouldbe noted that the manner of receiving, by the user equipment, the randomaccess response message may be, for example, a location of a resourceblock used to receive the random access response message and a quantityof resource blocks used to receive the random access response message,and/or a used modulation and coding scheme. Further, a specificoperation of “receiving, by the user equipment, the schedulinginformation of the random access response message on the predefinedresource” may be: first determining, by the user equipment, a commonsearch space on the predefined resource; then, receiving, in the commonsearch space, a second physical downlink control channel used toschedule the random access response message, where the second physicaldownlink control channel carries the scheduling information of therandom access response message. Similarly, the “carrying” herein mayalso refer to “including”.

In the foregoing description, the random access response message is anRAR (Random Access Response) message, and how to send a common messagebefore the RAR is not limited in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure. For example, how to send a public broadcast channel (PBCH)and a system message (SIB1 (System Information Block), or SI) before theRAR is not limited in the present disclosure. Certainly, the commonmessage before the RAR may be used to configure the predefined resource.

Optionally, the user equipment may implement, by using the followingmethod, an operation of “receiving the random access response message,and obtaining the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel carried in the random access response message”:receiving, by the user equipment, the random access response message,and obtaining indication information carried in the random accessresponse message, where the indication information includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. In an optional implementation manner, the first physicaldownlink control channel is used to schedule a random access contentionresolution message Msg4, that is, the indication information carried inthe random access response message includes configuration information ofa physical downlink control channel of the random access contentionresolution message Msg4.

Further, optionally, the user equipment may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “receiving the random accessresponse message, and obtaining the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel carried in the random accessresponse message”. 1. The user equipment receives the random accessresponse message, and obtains indication information carried in therandom access response message, where the indication informationincludes scheduling information of a random access contention resolutionmessage, and the scheduling information of the random access contentionresolution message is used to indicate manners of sending and receivingthe random access contention resolution message; and receives the randomaccess contention resolution message, where the random access contentionresolution message carries the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel. Similarly, the “carrying” herein mayalso refer to “including”. 2. The user equipment receives the randomaccess response message, and obtains indication information carried inthe random access response message, where the indication informationincludes configuration information of a third physical downlink controlchannel, the configuration information of the third physical downlinkcontrol channel is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving thethird physical downlink control channel, the third physical downlinkcontrol channel is used to transmit scheduling information of a randomaccess contention resolution message, the scheduling information of therandom access contention resolution message is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the random access contention resolutionmessage, and the configuration information of the third physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a commonsearch space in the third physical downlink control channel, and/orconfiguration information of a user equipment specific search space in aphysical downlink control resource of the third physical downlinkcontrol channel; and receives the random access contention resolutionmessage according to the scheduling information of the random accesscontention resolution message, and obtains the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel carried in the randomaccess contention resolution message.

In the foregoing description, the random access contention resolutionmessage may be an MSG4. The MSG4 may be used to resolve a problem ofconflicts in a random access process caused by the fact that the userequipment selects a same random access resource, for example, the userequipment chooses to receive a same random access preamble sequence on asame time frequency resource. It should be noted that, a difference fromthis embodiment of the present disclosure lies in: According to anexisting protocol, the RAR message carries only scheduling informationof an MSG3 (that is, a random access procedure message 3), and does notcarry scheduling information of the MSG4 or a third physical downlinkcontrol channel used to transmit scheduling information of the MSG4.

Further optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “adding the indicationinformation to the random access response message”. 1. The base stationdevice adds a new field to the random access response message, where thenew field includes the indication information. 2. The base stationdevice re-explains an existing field in the random access responsemessage, and adds the indication information to the existing field thatis re-explained. The re-explaining an existing field is: Re-define usageof some bits of the existing field. In an optional example, referring toa schematic diagram, shown in FIG. 14, of fields of the random accessresponse message, as shown in the figure, a UL Grant field is used toschedule the MSG3, and the field occupies a capacity of 20 bits.However, in a scenario of a narrowband resource, fewer bits than 20 bitsare needed to schedule the MSG3. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the field may be re-explained, only several bits are used toschedule the MSG3, and the remaining bits are used to transmit theindication information.

Similarly, optionally, the base station device may implement, by usingthe following two manners, an operation of adding the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel to the randomaccess response message. 1. The base station device adds a new field tothe random access response message, where the new field includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. 2. The base station device re-explains an existing field of therandom access response message, and writes the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel into the existing fieldthat is re-explained.

Solution 2. The user equipment receives, on the predefined resource, adata channel carrying the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel. The data channel is received in anunscheduled manner. It should be noted that the existing data channel isreceived in a scheduled manner. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the scheduled manner is not used, for example, a pre-knownmodulation and coding scheme or a manner without feedback is used.

It should be noted that receiving a data channel refers to sending dataof the data channel on the data channel.

Optionally, the data channel in this solution may be a random accesscontention resolution message. That is, the base station device receivesthe random access contention resolution message on the predefinedresource, and obtains the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel carried in the random accesscontention resolution message. In this embodiment, a method fortransmitting a message before the random access contention resolutionmessage is not limited, and a manner of determining the predefinedresource is not limited. For example, information about the predefinedresource is determined in a manner of notification by using a systemmessage or a random access response message, or in a manner ofdetermining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends, on a predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying configuration information of an EPDCCH. A manner ofsending the message carrying the configuration information of the EPDCCHmay be a modulation and coding scheme. The configuration information ofthe EPDCCH may be configuration information of a CSS in the EPDCCH onone or more EPDCCH resources, for example, on the predefined narrowbandresource, or may be configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH onanother narrowband resource. The configuration information of the CSSmay be, for example, a location of a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size ofthe PRB, and/or a starting symbol location, and/or a transmission manner(for example, a centralized manner or a distributed manner), and/or asubframe mode.

The user equipment receives, on the predefined narrowband resource, themessage carrying the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH,obtains the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH accordingto the received message, and listens to the EPDCCH in a CSS on anarrowband resource of the selected EPDCCH.

A network determines configuration of a CSS in an EPDCCH on one or moreEPDCCH resources, sends, on the predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying the determined configuration information of the CSS inthe EPDCCH, and sends the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on theselected one or more EPDCCH narrowband resources, so that the userequipment may listen to the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on the sameselected EPDCCH narrowband resource.

It should be noted that, the user equipment and the network need todetermine the selected EPDCCH narrowband resource according to a samerule, to ensure that the narrowband resource on which the user equipmentlistens to the EPDCCH is the same as the narrowband resource on whichthe network sends the EPDCCH.

In addition, optionally, the configuration information of the CSS in theEPDCCH may be configuration information of a USS in the EPDCCH, and thisexample is not listed.

Solution 3. The user equipment receives a fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel on the predefined resource, where the fourth physicaldownlink control channel carries the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel. Similarly, the “carrying”herein may also refer to “including”.

Alternatively, the user equipment receives the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel on the predefined resource, and receives, according tothe fourth physical downlink control channel, a message carrying theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. The message carrying the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel may be a common message, or a userequipment specific message.

Optionally, the fourth physical downlink control channel in thissolution may be a physical downlink control channel used to schedule arandom access contention resolution message. That is, the user equipmentreceives, on the predefined resource, the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule the random access contention resolutionmessage, receives the random access contention resolution messageaccording to the fourth physical downlink control channel, and adds theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelto the random access contention resolution message. Similarly, in thissolution, a manner of transmitting a channel and a message before thefourth physical downlink control channel is not limited, and a manner ofdetermining the predefined resource is not limited. For example,information about the predefined resource is determined in a manner ofnotification by using a system message or a random access responsemessage, or in a manner of determining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends a fourth EPDCCH channel on a predefinednarrowband resource. Configuration information of a CSS on a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH is pre-known,that is, the base station device and the user equipment already pre-knowthe configuration information of the CSS on the physical downlinkcontrol channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH, for example, a locationof a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size of the PRB, and/or a starting symbollocation, and/or a transmission manner (for example, a centralizedmanner or a distributed manner), and/or a subframe mode.

The user equipment receives the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefinednarrowband resource, and obtains the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel from the received fourth EPDCCHchannel; or receives, by using the received fourth EPDCCH channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

A network sends the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefined resource,and adds the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel to the fourth physical downlink control channel; orsends, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

Especially, in the foregoing solution 1, solution 2, and solution 3, thepredefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated in a system orstandard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling. Thesignaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information.

The predefined resource may be determined in the following threemanners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that in solution1, n PRBs are used to receive an RAR message, or in solution 2, n PRBsare used to receive configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH, orin solution 3, a CSS in an EPDCCH includes n PRB resources, the index ofthe starting PRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is aninteger multiple of n. In another embodiment, the index of the startingPRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is an integer multipleof n plus or minus a preset compensation value. Further, if there aremultiple predefined resources, for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs startingfrom a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 2, information istransmitted only according to a quantity of resources being 2, and inPRBs starting from a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 4,information is transmitted only according to a quantity of resourcesbeing 4. It should be noted that, the predefined resource may bedetermined uniquely in a specific moment, for example, a predefinedresource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determined uniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

S502: Receive the first physical downlink control channel according tothe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the base station device determines a receiving parameteraccording to the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and receives the first physical downlinkcontrol channel according to the receiving parameter.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, in S501, theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channeldoes not need to be received, and the first physical downlink controlchannel may be received on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, configuration information of a physical downlinkcontrol channel is received on a predefined resource, and the physicaldownlink control channel is received according to the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel, therebyimplementing receiving of a physical downlink control channel, andresolving a problem that when narrowband user equipment works in asystem whose system bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth ofthe narrowband user equipment, transmission of a physical downlinkcontrol channel cannot be implemented. The physical downlink controlchannel includes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCHchannel.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of another physical downlink controlchannel receiving method according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The method is implemented in user equipment, and includes aspecific implementation process of solution 5 mentioned in theembodiment corresponding to FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, a process ofthe physical downlink control channel receiving method in thisembodiment may include the following steps.

S601: Receive a random access response message on a predefined resource,where the random access response message carries configurationinformation of a first physical downlink control channel.

The random access response message is an RAR (Random Access Response)message, and how to send a common message before the RAR is not limitedin this embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, how to send apublic broadcast channel (PBCH) and a system message (SIB1 (SystemInformation Block), or SI) before the RAR is not limited in the presentdisclosure. Certainly, the common message before the RAR may be used toconfigure the predefined resource.

Specifically, the user equipment receives the random access responsemessage on the predefined resource, where the random access responsemessage carries the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel. The “carrying” herein may refer to“including”, that is, the random access response message includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

In an optional implementation manner, the user equipment may firstreceive scheduling information of the random access response message onthe predefined resource, where the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message is used to indicate manners of sending andreceiving the random access response message; then, receive the randomaccess response message according to the scheduling information of therandom access response message, and obtain the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel carried in the randomaccess response message. It should be noted that the manner ofreceiving, by the user equipment, the random access response message maybe, for example, a location of a resource block used to receive therandom access response message and a quantity of resource blocks used toreceive the random access response message, and/or a used modulation andcoding scheme. Further, a specific operation of “receiving, by the userequipment, the scheduling information of the random access responsemessage on the predefined resource” may be: first determining, by theuser equipment, a common search space on the predefined resource; then,receiving, in the common search space, a second physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message,where the second physical downlink control channel carries thescheduling information of the random access response message. Similarly,the “carrying” herein may also refer to “including”.

Optionally, the user equipment may implement, by using the followingmethod, an operation of “receiving the random access response message,and obtaining the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel carried in the random access response message”:receiving, by the user equipment, the random access response message,and obtaining indication information carried in the random accessresponse message, where the indication information includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. In an optional implementation manner, the first physicaldownlink control channel is used to schedule a random access contentionresolution message Msg4, that is, the indication information carried inthe random access response message includes configuration information ofa physical downlink control channel of the random access contentionresolution message Msg4.

Further, optionally, the user equipment may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “receiving the random accessresponse message, and obtaining the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel carried in the random accessresponse message”. 1. The user equipment receives the random accessresponse message, and obtains indication information carried in therandom access response message, where the indication informationincludes scheduling information of a random access contention resolutionmessage, and the scheduling information of the random access contentionresolution message is used to indicate manners of sending and receivingthe random access contention resolution message; and receives the randomaccess contention resolution message, where the random access contentionresolution message carries the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel. Similarly, the “carrying” herein mayalso refer to “including”. 2. The user equipment receives the randomaccess response message, and obtains indication information carried inthe random access response message, where the indication informationincludes configuration information of a third physical downlink controlchannel, the configuration information of the third physical downlinkcontrol channel is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving thethird physical downlink control channel, the third physical downlinkcontrol channel is used to transmit scheduling information of a randomaccess contention resolution message, the scheduling information of therandom access contention resolution message is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the random access contention resolutionmessage, and the configuration information of the third physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a commonsearch space in the third physical downlink control channel, and/orconfiguration information of a user equipment specific search space in aphysical downlink control resource of the third physical downlinkcontrol channel; and receives the random access contention resolutionmessage according to the scheduling information of the random accesscontention resolution message, and obtains the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel carried in the randomaccess contention resolution message.

In the foregoing description, the random access contention resolutionmessage may be an MSG4. The MSG4 may be used to resolve a problem ofconflicts in a random access process caused by the fact that the userequipment selects a same random access resource, for example, the userequipment chooses to receive a same random access preamble sequence on asame time frequency resource. It should be noted that, a difference fromthis embodiment of the present disclosure lies in: According to anexisting protocol, the RAR message carries only scheduling informationof an MSG3 (that is, a random access procedure message 3), and does notcarry scheduling information of the MSG4 or a third physical downlinkcontrol channel used to transmit scheduling information of the MSG4.

Further optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “adding the indicationinformation to the random access response message”. 1. The base stationdevice adds a new field to the random access response message, where thenew field includes the indication information. 2. The base stationdevice re-explains an existing field in the random access responsemessage, and adds the indication information to the existing field thatis re-explained. The re-explaining an existing field is: Re-define usageof some bits of the existing field. In an optional example, referring toa schematic diagram, shown in FIG. 14, of fields of the random accessresponse message, as shown in the figure, a UL Grant field is used toschedule the MSG3, and the field occupies a capacity of 20 bits.However, in a scenario of a narrowband resource, fewer bits than 20 bitsare needed to schedule the MSG3. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the field may be re-explained, only several bits are used toschedule the MSG3, and the remaining bits are used to transmit theindication information.

Similarly, optionally, the base station device may implement, by usingthe following two manners, an operation of adding the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel to the randomaccess response message. 1. The base station device adds a new field tothe random access response message, where the new field includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. 2. The base station device re-explains an existing field of therandom access response message, and writes the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel into the existing fieldthat is re-explained.

Especially, the predefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated ina system or standard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling.The signaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information. The predefinedresource in this embodiment of the present disclosure may be determinedin the following three manners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that n PRBs areused to receive an RAR message, an index of a starting PRB or an endingPRB of the predefined resource is an integer multiple of n. In anotherembodiment, the index of the starting PRB or the ending PRB of thepredefined resource is an integer multiple of n plus or minus a presetcompensation value. Further, if there are multiple predefined resources,for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs starting from a PRB whose index is aninteger multiple of 2, information is transmitted only according to aquantity of resources being 2, and in PRBs starting from a PRB whoseindex is an integer multiple of 4, information is transmitted onlyaccording to a quantity of resources being 4. It should be noted that,the predefined resource may be determined uniquely in a specific moment,for example, a predefined resource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determineduniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

S602: Receive the first physical downlink control channel according tothe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the user equipment determines a receiving parameteraccording to the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and receives the first physical downlinkcontrol channel according to the receiving parameter.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, in S601, theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channeldoes not need to be received, and the first physical downlink controlchannel may be received on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, an RAR message is received on a predefined resource,configuration information of a first physical downlink control channelcarried in the RAR message is obtained, and the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is received according to the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel, thereby implementingreceiving of a physical downlink control channel, and resolving aproblem that when narrowband user equipment works in a system whosesystem bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth of thenarrowband user equipment, transmission of a physical downlink controlchannel cannot be implemented. The physical downlink control channelincludes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCH channel.

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of still another physical downlinkcontrol channel receiving method according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The method is implemented in user equipment, andincludes a specific implementation process of solution 2 mentioned inthe embodiment corresponding to FIG. 5. As shown in the figure, aprocess of the physical downlink control channel receiving method inthis embodiment may include the following steps.

S701: Receive, on a predefined resource, a data channel carryingconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channel.

The data channel is received in an unscheduled manner. It should benoted that the existing data channel is received in a scheduled manner.In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the scheduled manner isnot used, for example, a pre-known modulation and coding scheme or amanner without feedback is used. Specifically, the user equipmentreceives, on the predefined resource, the data channel carrying theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

It should be noted that receiving a data channel refers to receivingdata of the data channel on the data channel.

Optionally, the data channel in this solution may be a random accesscontention resolution message. That is, the base station device receivesthe random access contention resolution message on the predefinedresource, and obtains the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel carried in the random accesscontention resolution message. In this embodiment, a method fortransmitting a message before the random access contention resolutionmessage is not limited, and a manner of determining the predefinedresource is not limited. For example, information about the predefinedresource is determined in a manner of notification by using a systemmessage or a random access response message, or in a manner ofdetermining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends, on a predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying configuration information of an EPDCCH. A manner ofsending the message carrying the configuration information of the EPDCCHmay be a modulation and coding scheme. The configuration information ofthe EPDCCH may be configuration information of a CSS in the EPDCCH onone or more EPDCCH resources, for example, on the predefined narrowbandresource, or may be configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH onanother narrowband resource. The configuration information of the CSSmay be, for example, a location of a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size ofthe PRB, and/or a starting symbol location, and/or a transmission manner(for example, a centralized manner or a distributed manner), and/or asubframe mode.

The user equipment receives, on the predefined narrowband resource, themessage carrying the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH,obtains the configuration information of the CSS according to thereceived message of the EPDCCH, and listens to the EPDCCH in a CSS on anarrowband resource of a selected EPDCCH.

A network determines configuration of a CSS in an EPDCCH on one or moreEPDCCH resources, sends, on the predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying the determined configuration information of the CSS inthe EPDCCH, and sends the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on theselected one or more EPDCCH narrowband resources, so that the userequipment may listen to the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on the sameselected EPDCCH narrowband resource.

It should be noted that, the user equipment and the network need todetermine the selected EPDCCH narrowband resource according to a samerule, to ensure that the narrowband resource on which the user equipmentlistens to the EPDCCH is the same as the narrowband resource on whichthe network sends the EPDCCH.

In addition, optionally, the configuration information of the CSS in theEPDCCH may be configuration information of a USS in the EPDCCH, and thisexample is not listed.

Especially, the predefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated ina system or standard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling.The signaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information. The predefinedresource in this embodiment of the present disclosure may be determinedin the following three manners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that n PRBs areused to receive configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH, anindex of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefined resource isan integer multiple of n. In another embodiment, the index of thestarting PRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is an integermultiple of n plus or minus a preset compensation value. Further, ifthere are multiple predefined resources, for example, 2 or 4, in PRBsstarting from a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 2, informationis transmitted only according to a quantity of resources being 2, and inPRBs starting from a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 4,information is transmitted only according to a quantity of resourcesbeing 4. It should be noted that, the predefined resource may bedetermined uniquely in a specific moment, for example, a predefinedresource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determined uniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

S702: Receive the first physical downlink control channel according tothe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the user equipment determines a receiving parameteraccording to the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and receives the first physical downlinkcontrol channel according to the receiving parameter.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, in S701, theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channeldoes not need to be received, and the first physical downlink controlchannel may be received on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, a data channel carrying a physical downlink controlchannel is received on a predefined resource, and the first physicaldownlink control channel is received according to configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel, therebyimplementing receiving of a physical downlink control channel, andresolving a problem that when narrowband user equipment works in asystem whose system bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth ofthe narrowband user equipment, transmission of a physical downlinkcontrol channel cannot be implemented. The physical downlink controlchannel includes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCHchannel.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of still another physical downlinkcontrol channel receiving method according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The method is implemented in user equipment, andincludes a specific implementation process of solution 3 mentioned inthe embodiment corresponding to FIG. 5. As shown in the figure, aprocess of the physical downlink control channel receiving method inthis embodiment may include the following steps.

S801: Receive a fourth physical downlink control channel on a predefinedresource, where the fourth physical downlink control channel carriesconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channel.

Optionally, the user equipment may first receive the fourth physicaldownlink control channel on the predefined resource, and then, receive,according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, a messagecarrying the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel. The message carrying the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel may be a common message, ora user equipment specific message.

Further optionally, the fourth physical downlink control channel in thissolution may be a physical downlink control channel used to schedule arandom access contention resolution message. That is, the user equipmentreceives, on the predefined resource, the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel used to schedule the random access contention resolutionmessage, receives the random access contention resolution messageaccording to the fourth physical downlink control channel, and adds theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelto the random access contention resolution message. Similarly, in thissolution, a manner of transmitting a channel and a message before thefourth physical downlink control channel is not limited, and a manner ofdetermining the predefined resource is not limited. For example,information about the predefined resource is determined in a manner ofnotification by using a system message or a random access responsemessage, or in a manner of determining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends a fourth EPDCCH channel on a predefinednarrowband resource. Configuration information of a CSS on a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH is pre-known,that is, the base station device and the user equipment already pre-knowthe configuration information of the CSS on the physical downlinkcontrol channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH, for example, a locationof a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size of the PRB, and/or a starting symbollocation, and/or a transmission manner (for example, a centralizedmanner or a distributed manner), and/or a subframe mode.

The user equipment receives the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefinednarrowband resource, and obtains the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel from the received fourth EPDCCHchannel; or receives, by using the received fourth EPDCCH channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

A network sends the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefined resource,and adds the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel to the fourth physical downlink control channel; orsends, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

Especially, the predefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated ina system or standard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling.The signaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information. The predefinedresource in this embodiment of the present disclosure may be determinedin the following three manners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that a CSS in anEPDCCH includes n PRBs, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB ofthe predefined resource is an integer multiple of n. In anotherembodiment, the index of the starting PRB or the ending PRB of thepredefined resource is an integer multiple of n plus or minus a presetcompensation value. Further, if there are multiple predefined resources,for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs starting from a PRB whose index is aninteger multiple of 2, information is transmitted only according to aquantity of resources being 2, and in PRBs starting from a PRB whoseindex is an integer multiple of 4, information is transmitted onlyaccording to a quantity of resources being 4. It should be noted that,the predefined resource may be determined uniquely in a specific moment,for example, a predefined resource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determineduniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

S802: Receive the first physical downlink control channel according tothe configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the user equipment determines a receiving parameteraccording to the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel, and receives the first physical downlinkcontrol channel according to the receiving parameter.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, in S801, theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channeldoes not need to be received, and the first physical downlink controlchannel may be received on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, configuration information of a fourth physicaldownlink control channel is received on a predefined resource,configuration information of a first PDCCH carried in the configurationinformation of the fourth physical downlink control channel is obtained,and the first physical downlink control channel is received according tothe configuration information of the physical downlink control channel,thereby implementing receiving of a physical downlink control channel,and resolving a problem that when narrowband user equipment works in asystem whose system bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth ofthe narrowband user equipment, transmission of a physical downlinkcontrol channel cannot be implemented. The physical downlink controlchannel includes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCHchannel.

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in thefigure, the base station device in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure may include at least a configuration information sendingmodule 910 and a control channel sending module 920.

The configuration information sending module 910 is configured to sendconfiguration information of a first physical downlink control channelon a predefined resource, where the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel is used to indicate manners ofsending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel.

The predefined resource may be one or more time frequency resources, butis not limited to the time frequency resource. For example, thepredefined resource may be a code domain resource, and/or a spatialresource. It should be noted that, this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is described by using a time frequency resource as anexample.

The predefined resource is a part of a predefined narrowband resource,and a physical downlink control channel is a part of the predefinedresource on the predefined narrowband resource, or is a part of thepredefined resource on another narrowband resource that is notpredefined. In an optional embodiment, referring to a schematic diagram,shown in FIG. 13, of a frequency band resource, a relationship among thepredefined narrowband resource, another narrowband resource that is notpredefined, and the physical downlink control channel is shown in thefigure. Predefining refers to: The base station device and userequipment already predefine configuration information, for example, alocation of a resource used for transmission and a quantity of resourcesused for transmission, and a scrambling sequence used for transmission.It should be understood that the predefined resource and the predefinednarrowband resource respectively are a resource whose configurationinformation is already predefined and a narrowband resource whoseconfiguration information is already predefined.

The physical downlink control channel is a control channel carryingscheduling information. For example, the physical downlink controlchannel in this embodiment of the present disclosure includes one ormore of a PDCCH, an EPDCCH, an RPDCCH, or the like, and especially,refers to an EPDCCH. The method in the present disclosure is describedby using an example in which the physical downlink control channel is anEPDCCH. In addition, configuration information of the physical downlinkcontrol channel may indicate a transmission manner of the physicaldownlink control channel, or a manner of transmitting data of thephysical downlink control channel on the physical downlink controlchannel, for example, a location of a resource used for transmission anda quantity of resources used for transmission, a scrambling sequenceused for transmission, and configuration of an uplink control channel(PUCCH).

Further, the configuration information of the physical downlink controlchannel includes configuration information of a common search space(that is, “CSS”) in the physical downlink control channel, and/orconfiguration information of a user equipment specific search space(that is, “USS”) in the physical downlink control channel. The physicaldownlink control channel especially refers to the first physicaldownlink control channel and a third physical downlink control channel.For example, the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a CSSand/or configuration information of a USS in the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and configuration information of the third physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a CSSand/or configuration information of a USS in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel.

Specifically, the configuration information sending module 910 sends theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelon the predefined resource. The configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is used to indicate the manners ofsending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel. Themanner of receiving, by the user equipment, the first physical downlinkcontrol channel may be, for example, a location of a resource used toreceive the first physical downlink control channel and a quantity ofresources used to receive the first physical downlink control channel,and/or a used scrambling sequence, and/or a used uplink control channelresource.

Further, the predefined resource may be a part or all of a physicaldownlink control channel resource. The physical downlink control channelresource is a set of a resource to which the physical downlink controlchannel is mapped, and a quantity of the physical downlink controlchannel resources is one or more. It should be noted that, that “thephysical downlink control channel resource is a set of a resource towhich the physical downlink control channel is mapped” refers to that“the physical downlink control channel resource is a set of a resourceto which the physical downlink control channel may be mapped”. Forexample, the predefined resource is a part of a CSS resource of apre-known physical downlink control channel. In this embodiment of thepresent disclosure, other configuration information of a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the CSS (for example, configurationinformation of all CSSs in the physical downlink control channel of theCSS, or configuration information of a USS in the physical downlinkcontrol channel of the CSS) may be sent by using the predefinedresource. Furthermore, if one or more physical downlink control channelresources are defined in a communications system, the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel may be used toconfigure a physical downlink control channel on the one or morephysical downlink control channel resources. For example, the predefinedresource is a part or all of a CSS resource of a pre-known physicaldownlink control channel resource. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, physical downlink control channel configuration of one ormore physical downlink control channel resources other than thepre-known physical downlink control channel resource may be sent on thepredefined resource.

Based on the foregoing description, in a specific implementationprocess, a specific implementation manner of sending, by theconfiguration information sending module 910, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel on thepredefined resource may be implemented by using the following threesolutions.

Solution 1: The configuration information sending module 910 sends arandom access response message on the predefined resource, where therandom access response message carries the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel. The “carrying” herein mayrefer to “including”, that is, the random access response messageincludes the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel.

Alternatively, the configuration information sending module 910 sendsscheduling information of the random access response message on thepredefined resource, where the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message is used to indicate manners of sending andreceiving the random access response message; and sends the randomaccess response message according to the scheduling information of therandom access response message, and adds the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel to the random accessresponse message. It should be noted that the manner of receiving, bythe user equipment, the random access response message may be, forexample, a location of a resource block used to receive the randomaccess response message and a quantity of resource blocks used toreceive the random access response message, and/or a used modulation andcoding scheme. Further, a specific operation of “sending, by theconfiguration information sending module 910, the scheduling informationof the random access response message on the predefined resource” maybe: first determining, by the configuration information sending module910, a common search space on the predefined resource; then, sending, inthe common search space, a second physical downlink control channel usedto schedule the random access response message, where the secondphysical downlink control channel carries the scheduling information ofthe random access response message. Similarly, the “carrying” herein mayalso refer to “including”.

In the foregoing description, the random access response message is anRAR (Random Access Response) message, and how to send a common messagebefore the RAR is not limited in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure. For example, how to send a public broadcast channel (PBCH)and a system message (SIB1 (System Information Block), or SI) before theRAR is not limited in the present disclosure. Certainly, the commonmessage before the RAR may be used to configure the predefined resource.

Optionally, the configuration information sending module 910 mayimplement, by using the following method, an operation of “sending therandom access response message, and adding the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel to the random accessresponse message”: sending, by the configuration information sendingmodule 910, the random access response message, and adding indicationinformation to the random access response message, where the indicationinformation includes the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel. In an optional implementation manner, thefirst physical downlink control channel is used to schedule a randomaccess contention resolution message Msg4, that is, the indicationinformation carried in the random access response message includesconfiguration information of a physical downlink control channel of therandom access contention resolution message Msg4.

Further, optionally, the configuration information sending module 910may implement, by using the following two manners, an operation of“sending the random access response message, and adding theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelto the random access response message”. 1. The configuration informationsending module 910 sends the random access response message, and addsindication information to the random access response message, where theindication information includes scheduling information of a randomaccess contention resolution message, and the scheduling information ofthe random access contention resolution message is used to indicatemanners of sending and receiving the random access contention resolutionmessage; and sends the random access contention resolution message,where the random access contention resolution message carries theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. Similarly, the “carrying” herein may also refer to “including”.2. The configuration information sending module 910 sends the randomaccess response message, and adds indication information to the randomaccess response message, where the indication information includesconfiguration information of a third physical downlink control channel,the configuration information of the third physical downlink controlchannel is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the thirdphysical downlink control channel, the third physical downlink controlchannel is used to transmit scheduling information of a random accesscontention resolution message, the scheduling information of the randomaccess contention resolution message is used to indicate manners ofsending and receiving the random access contention resolution message,and the configuration information of the third physical downlink controlchannel includes configuration information of a common search space inthe third physical downlink control channel, and/or configurationinformation of a user equipment specific search space in a physicaldownlink control resource of the third physical downlink controlchannel; and sends the random access contention resolution message,where the random access contention resolution message carries theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

In the foregoing description, the random access contention resolutionmessage may be an MSG4. The MSG4 may be used to resolve a problem ofconflicts in a random access process caused by the fact that the userequipment selects a same random access resource, for example, the userequipment chooses to send a same random access preamble sequence on asame time frequency resource. It should be noted that, a difference fromthis embodiment of the present disclosure lies in: According to anexisting protocol, the RAR message carries only scheduling informationof an MSG3 (that is, a random access procedure message 3), and does notcarry scheduling information of the MSG4 or a third physical downlinkcontrol channel used to transmit scheduling information of the MSG4.

Further optionally, the configuration information sending module 910 mayimplement, by using the following two manners, an operation of “addingthe indication information to the random access response message”. 1.The configuration information sending module 910 adds a new field to therandom access response message, where the new field includes theindication information. 2. The configuration information sending module910 re-explains an existing field in the random access response message,and adds the indication information to the existing field that isre-explained. The re-explaining an existing field is: Re-define usage ofsome bits of the existing field. In an optional example, referring to aschematic diagram, shown in FIG. 14, of fields of the random accessresponse message, as shown in the figure, a UL Grant field is used toschedule the MSG3, and the field occupies a capacity of 20 bits.However, in a scenario of a narrowband resource, fewer bits than 20 bitsare needed to schedule the MSG3. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the field may be re-explained, only several bits are used toschedule the MSG3, and the remaining bits are used to transmit theindication information.

Similarly, optionally, the configuration information sending module 910may implement, by using the following two manners, an operation of“adding the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel to the random access response message”. 1. Theconfiguration information sending module 910 adds a new field to therandom access response message, where the new field includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. 2. The configuration information sending module 910 re-explainsan existing field of the random access response message, and writes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelinto the existing field that is re-explained.

Solution 2. The configuration information sending module 910 sends, onthe predefined resource, a data channel carrying the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel. The datachannel is sent in an unscheduled manner. It should be noted that theexisting data channel is sent in a scheduled manner. In this embodimentof the present disclosure, the scheduled manner is not used, forexample, a pre-known modulation and coding scheme or a manner withoutfeedback is used.

It should be noted that sending a data channel refers to sending data ofthe data channel on the data channel.

Optionally, the data channel in this solution may be a random accesscontention resolution message. That is, the configuration informationsending module 910 sends the random access contention resolution messageon the predefined resource, and adds the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel to the random accesscontention resolution message. In this embodiment, a method fortransmitting a message before the random access contention resolutionmessage is not limited, and a manner of determining the predefinedresource is not limited. For example, information about the predefinedresource is determined in a manner of notification by using a systemmessage or a random access response message, or in a manner ofdetermining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The configuration information sending module 910 sends, on a predefinednarrowband resource, a message carrying configuration information of anEPDCCH. A manner of sending the message carrying the configurationinformation of the EPDCCH may be a modulation and coding scheme. Theconfiguration information of the EPDCCH may be configuration informationof a CSS in the EPDCCH on one or more EPDCCH resources, for example, onthe predefined narrowband resource, or may be configuration informationof a CSS in an EPDCCH on another narrowband resource. The configurationinformation of the CSS may be, for example, a location of a PRB of theCSS, and/or a size of the PRB, and/or a starting symbol location, and/ora transmission manner (for example, a centralized manner or adistributed manner), and/or a subframe mode.

The user equipment receives, on the predefined narrowband resource, themessage carrying the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH,obtains the configuration information of the CSS in the EPDCCH accordingto the received message, and listens to the EPDCCH in a CSS on anarrowband resource of the selected EPDCCH.

A network determines configuration of a CSS in an EPDCCH on one or moreEPDCCH resources, sends, on the predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying the determined configuration information of the CSS inthe EPDCCH, and sends the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on theselected one or more EPDCCH narrowband resources, so that the userequipment may listen to the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on the sameselected EPDCCH narrowband resource.

It should be noted that, the user equipment and the network need todetermine the selected EPDCCH narrowband resource according to a samerule, to ensure that the narrowband resource on which the user equipmentlistens to the EPDCCH is the same as the narrowband resource on whichthe network sends the EPDCCH.

In addition, optionally, the configuration information of the CSS in theEPDCCH may be configuration information of a USS in the EPDCCH, and thisexample is not listed.

Solution 3. The configuration information sending module 910 sends afourth physical downlink control channel on the predefined resource,where the fourth physical downlink control channel carries theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. Similarly, the “carrying” herein may also refer to “including”.

Alternatively, the configuration information sending module 910 sendsthe fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefined resource,and sends, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel. The message carrying the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel may be acommon message, or a user equipment specific message.

Optionally, the fourth physical downlink control channel in thissolution may be a physical downlink control channel used to schedule arandom access contention resolution message. That is, the configurationinformation sending module 910 sends, on the predefined resource, thefourth physical downlink control channel used to schedule the randomaccess contention resolution message, receives the random accesscontention resolution message according to the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel, and adds the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel to the random access contentionresolution message. Similarly, in this solution, a manner oftransmitting a channel and a message before the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel is not limited, and a manner of determining thepredefined resource is not limited. For example, information about thepredefined resource is determined in a manner of notification by using asystem message or a random access response message, or in a manner ofdetermining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The configuration information sending module 910 sends a fourth EPDCCHchannel on a predefined narrowband resource. Configuration informationof a CSS on a physical downlink control channel resource of the fourthEPDCCH is pre-known, that is, the base station device and the userequipment already pre-know the configuration information of the CSS onthe physical downlink control channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH, forexample, a location of a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size of the PRB,and/or a starting symbol location, and/or a transmission manner (forexample, a centralized manner or a distributed manner), and/or asubframe mode.

The user equipment receives the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefinednarrowband resource, and obtains the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel from the received fourth EPDCCHchannel; or receives, by using the received fourth EPDCCH channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

A network sends the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefined resource,and adds the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel to the fourth physical downlink control channel; orsends, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

Especially, in the foregoing solution 1, solution 2, and solution 3, thepredefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated in a system orstandard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling. Thesignaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information.

The predefined resource may be determined in the following threemanners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that in solution1, n PRBs are used to send an RAR message, or in solution 2, n PRBs areused to send configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH, or insolution 3, a CSS in an EPDCCH includes n PRB resources, the index ofthe starting PRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is aninteger multiple of n. In another embodiment, the index of the startingPRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is an integer multipleof n plus or minus a preset compensation value. Further, if there aremultiple predefined resources, for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs startingfrom a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 2, information istransmitted only according to a quantity of resources being 2, and inPRBs starting from a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 4,information is transmitted only according to a quantity of resourcesbeing 4. It should be noted that, the predefined resource may bedetermined uniquely in a specific moment, for example, a predefinedresource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determined uniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

The control channel sending module 920 is configured to send the firstphysical downlink control channel according to the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

Specifically, the control channel sending module 920 determines asending parameter according to the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel, and sends the first physicaldownlink control channel according to the sending parameter, so that theuser equipment receives the first physical downlink control channel.

It should be noted that, if the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel is predefined, the configurationinformation sending module 910 does not need to send the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel, and may sendthe first physical downlink control channel on the predefined resource.

That “the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined” includes that “a part of theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelis predefined, and a part is configured”. That is, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel includesfirst configuration information and second configuration information,the first configuration information and the second configurationinformation include one or more parameter configurations of the firstphysical downlink control channel, the first configuration informationis predefined, and the second configuration information is configured.

In an optional specific implementation manner:

The random access response message carries the first configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.Alternatively, the second physical downlink control channel carries thefirst configuration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. For example, the second physical downlink control channel is acontrol channel used to schedule the random access response message.

The second configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel is predefined in the system or standard. Alternatively,system information carries the second configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel.

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of user equipment according toan embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in the figure, theuser equipment in this embodiment of the present disclosure may includeat least a configuration information receiving module 1010 and a controlchannel receiving module 1020.

The configuration information receiving module 1010 is configured toreceive configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource, where the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel.

The predefined resource may be one or more time frequency resources, butis not limited to the time frequency resource. For example, thepredefined resource may be a code domain resource, and/or a spatialresource. It should be noted that, this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is described by using a time frequency resource as anexample.

The predefined resource is a part of a predefined narrowband resource,and a physical downlink control channel is a part of the predefinedresource on the predefined narrowband resource, or is a part of thepredefined resource on another narrowband resource that is notpredefined. In an optional embodiment, referring to a schematic diagram,shown in FIG. 13, of a frequency band resource, a relationship among thepredefined narrowband resource, another narrowband resource that is notpredefined, and the physical downlink control channel is shown in thefigure. Predefining refers to: A base station device and the userequipment already predefine configuration information, for example, alocation of a resource used for transmission and a quantity of resourcesused for transmission, and a scrambling sequence used for transmission.It should be understood that the predefined resource and the predefinednarrowband resource respectively are a resource whose configurationinformation is already predefined and a narrowband resource whoseconfiguration information is already predefined.

The physical downlink control channel is a control channel carryingscheduling information. For example, the physical downlink controlchannel in this embodiment of the present disclosure includes one ormore of a PDCCH, an EPDCCH, an RPDCCH, or the like, and especially,refers to an EPDCCH. The method in the present disclosure is describedby using an example in which the physical downlink control channel is anEPDCCH. In addition, configuration information of the physical downlinkcontrol channel may indicate a transmission manner of the physicaldownlink control channel, or a manner of transmitting data of thephysical downlink control channel on the physical downlink controlchannel, for example, a location of a resource used for transmission anda quantity of resources used for transmission, a scrambling sequenceused for transmission, and configuration of an uplink control channel(PUCCH).

Further, the configuration information of the physical downlink controlchannel includes configuration information of a common search space(that is, “CSS”) in the physical downlink control channel, and/orconfiguration information of a user equipment specific search space(that is, “USS”) in the physical downlink control channel. The physicaldownlink control channel especially refers to the first physicaldownlink control channel and a third physical downlink control channel.For example, the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a CSSand/or configuration information of a USS in the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and configuration information of the third physicaldownlink control channel includes configuration information of a CSSand/or configuration information of a USS in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel.

Specifically, the configuration information receiving module 1010receives the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel on the predefined resource. The manner of receiving, bythe configuration information receiving module 1010, the first physicaldownlink control channel may be, for example, a location of a resourceused to receive the first physical downlink control channel and aquantity of resources used to receive the first physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or a used scrambling sequence, and/or a used uplinkcontrol channel resource.

Further, the predefined resource may be a part or all of a physicaldownlink control channel resource. The physical downlink control channelresource is a set of a resource to which the physical downlink controlchannel is mapped, and a quantity of the physical downlink controlchannel resources is one or more. It should be noted that, that “thephysical downlink control channel resource is a set of a resource towhich the physical downlink control channel is mapped” refers to that“the physical downlink control channel resource is a set of a resourceto which the physical downlink control channel may be mapped”. Forexample, the predefined resource is a part of a CSS resource of apre-known physical downlink control channel. In this embodiment of thepresent disclosure, other configuration information of a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the CSS (for example, configurationinformation of all CSSs in the physical downlink control channel of theCSS, or configuration information of a USS in the physical downlinkcontrol channel of the CSS) may be received by using the predefinedresource. Furthermore, if one or more physical downlink control channelresources are defined in a communications system, the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel may be used toconfigure a physical downlink control channel on the one or morephysical downlink control channel resources. For example, the predefinedresource is a part or all of a CSS resource of a pre-known physicaldownlink control channel resource. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, physical downlink control channel configuration of one ormore physical downlink control channel resources other than thepre-known physical downlink control channel resource may be received onthe predefined resource.

Based on the foregoing description, in a specific implementationprocess, a specific implementation manner of receiving, by theconfiguration information receiving module 1010, the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel on thepredefined resource may be implemented by using the following threesolutions.

Solution 1: The configuration information receiving module 1010 receivesa random access response message on the predefined resource, where therandom access response message carries the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel. The “carrying” herein mayrefer to “including”, that is, the random access response messageincludes the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel.

Alternatively, the configuration information receiving module 1010receives scheduling information of the random access response message onthe predefined resource, where the scheduling information of the randomaccess response message is used to indicate manners of sending andreceiving the random access response message; and receives the randomaccess response message according to the scheduling information of therandom access response message, and obtains the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel carried inthe random access response message. It should be noted that the mannerof receiving, by the configuration information receiving module 1010,the random access response message may be, for example, a location of aresource block used to receive the random access response message and aquantity of resource blocks used to receive the random access responsemessage, and/or a used modulation and coding scheme. Further, a specificoperation of “receiving, by the configuration information receivingmodule 1010, the scheduling information of the random access responsemessage on the predefined resource” may be: first determining, by theconfiguration information receiving module 1010, a common search spaceon the predefined resource; then, receiving, in the common search space,a second physical downlink control channel used to schedule the randomaccess response message, where the second physical downlink controlchannel carries the scheduling information of the random access responsemessage. Similarly, the “carrying” herein may also refer to “including”.

In the foregoing description, the random access response message is anRAR (Random Access Response) message, and how to send a common messagebefore the RAR is not limited in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure. For example, how to send a public broadcast channel (PBCH)and a system message (SIB1 (System Information Block), or SI) before theRAR is not limited in the present disclosure. Certainly, the commonmessage before the RAR may be used to configure the predefined resource.

Optionally, the configuration information receiving module 1010 mayimplement, by using the following method, an operation of “receiving therandom access response message, and obtaining the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel carried inthe random access response message”: receiving, by the configurationinformation receiving module 1010, the random access response message,and obtaining indication information carried in the random accessresponse message, where the indication information includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. In an optional implementation manner, the first physicaldownlink control channel is used to schedule a random access contentionresolution message Msg4, that is, the indication information carried inthe random access response message includes configuration information ofa physical downlink control channel of the random access contentionresolution message Msg4.

Further, optionally, the configuration information receiving module 1010may implement, by using the following two manners, an operation of“receiving the random access response message, and obtaining theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelcarried in the random access response message”. 1. The configurationinformation receiving module 1010 receives the random access responsemessage, and obtains indication information carried in the random accessresponse message, where the indication information includes schedulinginformation of a random access contention resolution message, and thescheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the randomaccess contention resolution message; and receives the random accesscontention resolution message, where the random access contentionresolution message carries the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel. Similarly, the “carrying” herein mayalso refer to “including”. 2. The configuration information receivingmodule 1010 receives the random access response message, and obtainsindication information carried in the random access response message,where the indication information includes configuration information of athird physical downlink control channel, the configuration informationof the third physical downlink control channel is used to indicatemanners of sending and receiving the third physical downlink controlchannel, the third physical downlink control channel is used to transmitscheduling information of a random access contention resolution message,the scheduling information of the random access contention resolutionmessage is used to indicate manners of sending and receiving the randomaccess contention resolution message, and the configuration informationof the third physical downlink control channel includes configurationinformation of a common search space in the third physical downlinkcontrol channel, and/or configuration information of a user equipmentspecific search space in a physical downlink control resource of thethird physical downlink control channel; and receives the random accesscontention resolution message according to the scheduling information ofthe random access contention resolution message, and obtains theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelcarried in the random access contention resolution message.

In the foregoing description, the random access contention resolutionmessage may be an MSG4. The MSG4 may be used to resolve a problem ofconflicts in a random access process caused by the fact that the userequipment selects a same random access resource, for example, the userequipment chooses to receive a same random access preamble sequence on asame time frequency resource. It should be noted that, a difference fromthis embodiment of the present disclosure lies in: According to anexisting protocol, the RAR message carries only scheduling informationof an MSG3 (that is, a random access procedure message 3), and does notcarry scheduling information of the MSG4 or a third physical downlinkcontrol channel used to transmit scheduling information of the MSG4.

Further optionally, the base station device may implement, by using thefollowing two manners, an operation of “adding the indicationinformation to the random access response message”. 1. The base stationdevice adds a new field to the random access response message, where thenew field includes the indication information. 2. The base stationdevice re-explains an existing field in the random access responsemessage, and adds the indication information to the existing field thatis re-explained. The re-explaining an existing field is: Re-define usageof some bits of the existing field. In an optional example, referring toa schematic diagram, shown in FIG. 14, of fields of the random accessresponse message, as shown in the figure, a UL Grant field is used toschedule the MSG3, and the field occupies a capacity of 20 bits.However, in a scenario of a narrowband resource, fewer bits than 20 bitsare needed to schedule the MSG3. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the field may be re-explained, only several bits are used toschedule the MSG3, and the remaining bits are used to transmit theindication information.

Similarly, optionally, the base station device may implement, by usingthe following two manners, an operation of adding the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel to the randomaccess response message. 1. The base station device adds a new field tothe random access response message, where the new field includes theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. 2. The base station device re-explains an existing field of therandom access response message, and writes the configuration informationof the first physical downlink control channel into the existing fieldthat is re-explained.

Solution 2. The configuration information receiving module 1010receives, on the predefined resource, a data channel carrying theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. The data channel is received in an unscheduled manner. Itshould be noted that the existing data channel is received in ascheduled manner. In this embodiment of the present disclosure, thescheduled manner is not used, for example, a pre-known modulation andcoding scheme or a manner without feedback is used.

It should be noted that receiving a data channel refers to receivingdata of the data channel on the data channel.

Optionally, the data channel in this solution may be a random accesscontention resolution message. That is, the configuration informationreceiving module 1010 receives the random access contention resolutionmessage on the predefined resource, and obtains the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel carried inthe random access contention resolution message. In this embodiment, amethod for transmitting a message before the random access contentionresolution message is not limited, and a manner of determining thepredefined resource is not limited. For example, information about thepredefined resource is determined in a manner of notification by using asystem message or a random access response message, or in a manner ofdetermining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends, on a predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying configuration information of an EPDCCH. A manner ofsending the message carrying the configuration information of the EPDCCHmay be a modulation and coding scheme. The configuration information ofthe EPDCCH may be configuration information of a CSS in the EPDCCH onone or more EPDCCH resources, for example, on the predefined narrowbandresource, or may be configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH onanother narrowband resource. The configuration information of the CSSmay be, for example, a location of a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size ofthe PRB, and/or a starting symbol location, and/or a transmission manner(for example, a centralized manner or a distributed manner), and/or asubframe mode.

The configuration information receiving module 1010 receives, on thepredefined narrowband resource, the message carrying the configurationinformation of the CSS in the EPDCCH, obtains the configurationinformation of the CSS in the EPDCCH according to the received message,and listens to the EPDCCH in a CSS on a narrowband resource of theselected EPDCCH.

A network determines configuration of a CSS in an EPDCCH on one or moreEPDCCH resources, sends, on the predefined narrowband resource, amessage carrying the determined configuration information of the CSS inthe EPDCCH, and sends the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on theselected one or more EPDCCH narrowband resources, so that the userequipment may listen to the EPDCCH in the CSS in the EPDCCH on the sameselected EPDCCH narrowband resource.

It should be noted that, the configuration information receiving module1010 and the network need to determine the selected EPDCCH narrowbandresource according to a same rule, to ensure that the narrowbandresource on which the configuration information receiving module 1010listens to the EPDCCH is the same as the narrowband resource on whichthe network sends the EPDCCH.

In addition, optionally, the configuration information of the CSS in theEPDCCH may be configuration information of a USS in the EPDCCH, and thisexample is not listed.

Solution 3. The configuration information receiving module 1010 receivesa fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefined resource,where the fourth physical downlink control channel carries theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel. Similarly, the “carrying” herein may also refer to “including”.

Alternatively, the configuration information receiving module 1010receives the fourth physical downlink control channel on the predefinedresource, and receives, according to the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel, a message carrying the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel. The message carrying theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelmay be a common message, or a user equipment specific message.

Optionally, the fourth physical downlink control channel in thissolution may be a physical downlink control channel used to schedule arandom access contention resolution message. That is, the configurationinformation receiving module 1010 receives, on the predefined resource,the fourth physical downlink control channel used to schedule the randomaccess contention resolution message, receives the random accesscontention resolution message according to the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel, and adds the configuration information of the firstphysical downlink control channel to the random access contentionresolution message. Similarly, in this solution, a manner oftransmitting a channel and a message before the fourth physical downlinkcontrol channel is not limited, and a manner of determining thepredefined resource is not limited. For example, information about thepredefined resource is determined in a manner of notification by using asystem message or a random access response message, or in a manner ofdetermining by using a pre-known rule.

In an optional example, an implementation scenario of this solution maybe as follows.

The base station device sends a fourth EPDCCH channel on a predefinednarrowband resource. Configuration information of a CSS on a physicaldownlink control channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH is pre-known,that is, the base station device and the user equipment already pre-knowthe configuration information of the CSS on the physical downlinkcontrol channel resource of the fourth EPDCCH, for example, a locationof a PRB of the CSS, and/or a size of the PRB, and/or a starting symbollocation, and/or a transmission manner (for example, a centralizedmanner or a distributed manner), and/or a subframe mode.

The configuration information receiving module 1010 receives the fourthEPDCCH channel on the predefined narrowband resource, and obtains theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink control channelfrom the received fourth EPDCCH channel; or receives, by using thereceived fourth EPDCCH channel, a message carrying the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

A network sends the fourth EPDCCH channel on the predefined resource,and adds the configuration information of the first physical downlinkcontrol channel to the fourth physical downlink control channel; orsends, according to the fourth physical downlink control channel, amessage carrying the configuration information of the first physicaldownlink control channel.

Especially, in the foregoing solution 1, solution 2, and solution 3, thepredefined resource may be a resource pre-stipulated in a system orstandard, or may be a resource notified by using signaling. Thesignaling is one or more of RRC common signaling, RRC dedicatedsignaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, a MAC control element,a physical control channel, or control information.

The predefined resource may be determined in the following threemanners.

Manner 1. The predefined resource is determined by using a preset rule.Optionally, the predefined resource is determined according to aquantity of physical resource blocks in the predefined resource, and thepredefined resource includes one or more physical resource blocks. Forexample, an index of a starting PRB or an ending PRB of the predefinedresource is a function of n. In an embodiment, assuming that in solution1, n PRBs are used to receive an RAR message, or in solution 2, n PRBsare used to receive configuration information of a CSS in an EPDCCH, orin solution 3, a CSS in an EPDCCH includes n PRB resources, the index ofthe starting PRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is aninteger multiple of n. In another embodiment, the index of the startingPRB or the ending PRB of the predefined resource is an integer multipleof n plus or minus a preset compensation value. Further, if there aremultiple predefined resources, for example, 2 or 4, in PRBs startingfrom a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 2, information istransmitted only according to a quantity of resources being 2, and inPRBs starting from a PRB whose index is an integer multiple of 4,information is transmitted only according to a quantity of resourcesbeing 4. It should be noted that, the predefined resource may bedetermined uniquely in a specific moment, for example, a predefinedresource whose PRB is 2 or 4 may be determined uniquely.

Manner 2. The predefined resource is notified by using higher-layersignaling. For example, many predefined resources are configured in ahigher layer, and are notified to the user equipment by using a PBCHchannel. It should be noted that, the predefined resource is certain ina specific moment, and related configuration information may be certainand known.

Manner 3. One or more resources are configured by using higher-layersignaling, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule. That is, the foregoing manner1 and manner 2 are combined. A range is determined by using higher-layersignaling, and a specific resource or some specific resources aredetermined from the range according to a rule.

The control channel receiving module 1020 is configured to receive thefirst physical downlink control channel according to the configurationinformation of the first physical downlink control channel.

Specifically, the control channel receiving module 1020 determines areceiving parameter according to the configuration information of thefirst physical downlink control channel, and receives the first physicaldownlink control channel according to the receiving parameter.

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another base station deviceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG.11, the base station device may include at least one processor 1101, forexample, a CPU, at least one network interface 1103, a memory 1104, andat least one communications bus 1102. The communications bus 1102 isconfigured to implement connection and communication between thecomponents. The network interface 1103 in the base station device inthis embodiment of the present disclosure may be a wireless interface,for example, an antenna apparatus, configured to perform signaling ordata communication with another node device. The memory 1104 may be ahigh-speed RAM memory, or may be a non-volatile memory (non-volatilememory), such as at least one magnetic disk memory. Optionally, thememory 1104 may also be at least one storage device located away fromthe processor 1101. The memory 1104 stores a group of program code, andthe processor 1101 is configured to invoke the program code stored inthe memory 1104, to perform the following operations:

sending configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource, where the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel;and

sending the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the base station device described in this embodiment maybe configured to implement some or all steps in the physical downlinkcontrol channel sending method described in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4.

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another user equipmentaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG.12, the user equipment may include at least one processor 1201, forexample, a CPU, at least one network interface 1203, a memory 1204, andat least one communications bus 1202. The communications bus 1202 isconfigured to implement connection and communication between thecomponents. The network interface 1203 in the user equipment in thisembodiment of the present disclosure may be a wireless interface, forexample, an antenna apparatus, configured to perform signaling or datacommunication with another node device. The memory 1204 may be ahigh-speed RAM memory, or may be a non-volatile memory (non-volatilememory), such as at least one magnetic disk memory. Optionally, thememory 1204 may also be at least one storage device located away fromthe processor 1201. The memory 1204 stores a group of program code, andthe processor 1201 is configured to invoke the program code stored inthe memory 1204, to perform the following operations:

receiving configuration information of a first physical downlink controlchannel on a predefined resource, where the configuration information ofthe first physical downlink control channel is used to indicate mannersof sending and receiving the first physical downlink control channel;and

receiving the first physical downlink control channel according to theconfiguration information of the first physical downlink controlchannel.

Specifically, the user equipment described in this embodiment may beconfigured to implement some or all steps in the physical downlinkcontrol channel receiving method described in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure with reference to FIG. 5 to FIG. 8.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computerstorage medium. The computer storage medium stores a program, and theprogram includes several instructions used to perform some or all stepsin the physical downlink control channel sending method described in theembodiments of the present disclosure with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG.4.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computerstorage medium. The computer storage medium stores a program, and theprogram includes several instructions used to perform some or all stepsin the physical downlink control channel receiving method described inthe embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to FIG. 5 toFIG. 8.

As can be seen from the foregoing, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, first, configuration information of a physical downlinkcontrol channel is sent on a predefined resource, and the physicaldownlink control channel is sent according to the configurationinformation of the physical downlink control channel, therebyimplementing sending of a physical downlink control channel, andresolving a problem that when narrowband user equipment works in asystem whose system bandwidth is greater than an operating bandwidth ofthe narrowband user equipment, transmission of a physical downlinkcontrol channel cannot be implemented. The physical downlink controlchannel includes but is not limited to a PDCCH channel and/or an EPDCCHchannel.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some ofthe processes of the methods in the embodiments may be implemented by acomputer program instructing relevant hardware. The program may bestored in a computer readable storage medium. When the program runs, theprocesses of the methods in the embodiments are performed. The foregoingstorage medium may include: a magnetic disk, an optical disc, aread-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), or a random access memory(Random Access Memory, RAM).

What is disclosed above is merely example embodiments of the presentdisclosure, and certainly is not intended to limit the protection scopeof the present disclosure. Therefore, equivalent variations made inaccordance with the claims of the present disclosure shall fall withinthe scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A base station device, comprising: a processor;and a memory coupled to the processor and storing programminginstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the basestation to: send a first physical downlink control channel fortransmitting scheduling information of a message 4 (Msg4) on apredefined resource; send the Msg4 carrying configuration information ofa second physical downlink control channel according to the schedulinginformation of the Msg4; send the second physical downlink controlchannel according to the configuration information of the secondphysical downlink control channel.
 2. The base station device accordingto claim 1, wherein the predefined resource is determined by using apreset rule; and/or notified by using a higher layer; or one or moreresources are configured by using a higher layer, and the predefinedresource is determined from the one or more resources by using apredefined rule.
 3. The base station device according to claim 1,wherein the predefined resource comprises a predefined time frequencyresource.
 4. The base station device according to claim 1, wherein thepredefined resource is a part of a predefined narrowband resource, andthe second physical downlink control channel is a part of the predefinedresource on the predefined narrowband resource.
 5. A user equipment(UE), comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor andstoring programming instructions that, when executed by the processor,cause the UE to: receive a first physical downlink control channel fortransmitting scheduling information of a message 4 (Msg4) on apredefined resource; receive the Msg4 that is carrying configurationinformation of a second physical downlink control channel according tothe scheduling information of the Msg4; receive the second physicaldownlink control channel according to the configuration information ofthe second physical downlink control channel.
 6. The UE according toclaim 5, wherein the predefined resource is determined by using a presetrule; and/or notified by using a higher layer; or one or more resourcesare configured by using a higher layer, and the predefined resource isdetermined from the one or more resources by using a predefined rule. 7.The UE according to claim 5, wherein the predefined resource comprises apredefined time frequency resource.
 8. The UE according to claim 5,wherein the predefined resource is a part of a predefined narrowbandresource, and the second physical downlink control channel is a part ofthe predefined resource on the predefined narrowband resource.
 9. A basestation device, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to theprocessor and storing programming instructions that, when executed bythe processor, cause the base station to: send a random access responsemessage on a predefined resource, wherein the random access responsemessage carries indication information comprising configurationinformation of a first physical downlink control channel, the firstphysical downlink control channel for transmitting schedulinginformation of a message 4 (Msg4); send the Msg4 that is carryingconfiguration information of a second physical downlink control channelaccording to the scheduling information of the Msg4; send the secondphysical downlink control channel according to the configurationinformation of the second physical downlink control channel.
 10. Thebase station device according to claim 9, wherein the predefinedresource is determined by using a preset rule; and/or notified by usinga higher layer; or one or more resources are configured by using ahigher layer, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule.
 11. The base station deviceaccording to claim 9, wherein the predefined resource comprises apredefined time frequency resource.
 12. The base station deviceaccording to claim 9, wherein the predefined resource is a part of apredefined narrowband resource, and the second physical downlink controlchannel is a part of the predefined resource on the predefinednarrowband resource.
 13. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a processor;and a memory coupled to the processor and storing programminginstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the UE to:receive a random access response message on a predefined resource,wherein the random access response message carries indicationinformation comprising configuration information of a first physicaldownlink control channel, the first physical downlink control channelfor transmitting scheduling information of a message 4 (Msg4); receivethe Msg4 that is carrying configuration information of a second physicaldownlink control channel according to the scheduling information of theMsg4; receive the second physical downlink control channel according tothe configuration information of the second physical downlink controlchannel.
 14. The UE according to claim 13, wherein the predefinedresource is determined by using a preset rule; and/or notified by usinga higher layer; or one or more resources are configured by using ahigher layer, and the predefined resource is determined from the one ormore resources by using a predefined rule.
 15. The UE according to claim13, wherein the predefined resource comprises a predefined timefrequency resource.
 16. The UE according to claim 13, wherein thepredefined resource is a part of a predefined narrowband resource, andthe second physical downlink control channel is a part of the predefinedresource on the predefined narrowband resource.